The work of Professor Ikonomovic was pivotal in characterisation of modern PET ligands for visualisation of beta-amyloid and tau proteins which are the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.
About Professor Ikonomovic
Dr. Ikonomovic received his M.D. from the University of Nis School of Medicine, Yugoslavia, in 1988, and completed clinical internship in 1989.
During 1990-91 he was a Visiting Lecturer in the department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, and from 1991 to 1994 he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Fidia-Georgetown Institute for Neurosciences, studying glutamate and GABA receptor changes in aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
From 1994 to 1996, Dr. Ikonomovic was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Neuroscience Research Center of the Allegheny Singer Research Institute in Pittsburgh, and in 1996 he was appointed a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Allegheny Campus of the Medical College of Pennsylvania and Hahnemann University.
In 1999 he joined Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine as a Research Assistant Professor, conducting studies of the cholinergic system alterations in aging and AD.
Since 2008 he has been an Associate Professor of Neurology, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Psychiatry, and since 2010 he has been a Research Biologist in the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. Dr. Ikonomovic has authored or co-authored over 100 peer reviewed manuscripts, reviews, and book chapters, and presented his work at many national and international symposia.
He is a consultant to GE Healthcare and Neuropathology Core of the University of Pittsburgh Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
His current research is supported by the NIH, industry, and private foundations, and it focuses on neuropathological correlates of in vivo amyloid and tau imaging, cholinergic and synaptic dysfunction in mild cognitive impairment and early AD, and altered metabolism of amyloid precursor protein as a potential link between traumatic brain injury and AD.
Refreshments will be served before the lecture.