Lali Gutierrez

Aggregations of peptides and proteins have long been implicated in progressive neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other related dementias. Recent treatments focused on targeting amyloid beta peptide aggregation have shown disappointing results. New targets such as hyperphosphorylated tau proteins, oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction, and neuroinflammation have been identified for potential therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. I aim to design and synthesize novel multi-functional compounds that can target multiple hallmarks of such neurodegenerative diseases for diagnostic and potentially therapeutic purposes. A particular research interest of mine is the development of imaging agents for neuronal oxidative stress and small molecule therapies for mitochondrial dysfunction.