TUF :: Dr. Leissring

The Unforgettable Fund

F I N D I N G H O P E | Dr. Malcolm Leissring, Mayo Clinic Jacksonville

Dr. Malcolm Leissring began his research career at UC Berkeley in 1988 investigating fundamental mechanisms of learning and memory formation. After receiving a Masters degree from San Francisco State University, Dr. Leissring sought to apply this knowledge to Alzheimer’s disease, the leading memory disorder in humans. To that end, he joined the laboratory of Dr. Frank LaFerla at UC Irvine, who has developed one of the most successful and widely studied Alzheimer’s mouse models in use today.

After earning his Ph.D. from UC Irvine, Dr. Leissring conducted his post-doctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Dennis Selkoe at Harvard Medical School, a world-renowned Alzheimer’s disease researcher. In Dr. Selkoe’s laboratory, Dr. Leissring conducted a seminal study showing that Alzheimer’s disease could be completely prevented in mice by activating of a special class of enzymes that can break down the beta-amyloid peptide, the primary constituent of the plaques that litter the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. This novel finding has unveiled a host of novel drug targets that his lab is currently pursuing.

Dr. Leissring was recruited as the lead Alzheimer’s researcher at Scripps Florida in 2005. While there, Patty Doherty introduced him to her ailing father, Richard McNally, which proved to be the first time he had witnessed the human side of the disease. Seeing first-hand the devastating impact of Alzheimer’s on its victims and their loved ones, Dr. Leissring redoubled his efforts to find a cure and, to help fund the effort, joined with Patty Doherty to create The Unforgettable Fund.

In 2007, the Leissring lab moved to the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Jacksonville, one of world’s leading institutes investigating Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. This move has given Dr. Leissring access to human tissue samples, genetic data, and animal models that will accelerate his goal of developing novel therapies, while keeping him close enough to continue working with The Unforgettable Fund.