Kurt R Brunden, Ph.D.
Research Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Director or Drug Discovery, Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Department: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Contact information
Center for Neurodegenerative Disease Research
University of Pennsylvania
3600 Spruce St.
3rd Floor Maloney Bldg.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
University of Pennsylvania
3600 Spruce St.
3rd Floor Maloney Bldg.
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 215-615-5262
Email:
kbrunden@upenn.edu
kbrunden@upenn.edu
Education:
B.S. (Biology/Health Chemistry)
Western Michigan University, 1980.
Ph.D. (Biochemistry)
Purdue University, 1985.
Permanent linkB.S. (Biology/Health Chemistry)
Western Michigan University, 1980.
Ph.D. (Biochemistry)
Purdue University, 1985.
Description of Research Expertise
Dr. Brunden oversees research programs directed towards the identification of therapeutic targets and treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases.Selected Publications
Yao Y, Muench M, Alle T, Zhang B, Lucero B, Perez-Tremble R, McGrosso D, Newman M, Gonzalez DJ, Lee V-MY, Ballatore C and Brunden KR : A small molecule microtubule-stabilizing agent safely reduces Aβ plaque and tau pathology in transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer’s Disease. Alzheimer’s & Dementia 20: 4540-4558, 2024.Lucero B, Francisco KR, Varricchio C, Liu LJ, Yao Y, Brancale A, Brunden KR, Caffrey CR and Ballatore C : Design, synthesis and evaluation of an anti-trypanosomal [1,2,4] triazolo [1,5-a] pyrimidine probe for photoaffinity labeling studies. ChemMedChem 19: e202300656, 2024.
Jang E, Hoxha K, Mozier D, Insana A, Farber E, Changolkar L, Zhang B, Chio TI, Crowe A, Cehn R, Mercken M, Lee E, Luk K, Brunden KR, Lee VM-Y and Xu H : Targeting Endogenous Tau in Seeded Tauopathy Models Inhibits Tau Spread. J. Neuroscience 44: e0877242024, 2024.
Xu H, Qiu Q, Hu P, Hoxha K, Jang E, O’Reilly M, Kim C, He Z, Marotta N, Changolklar L, Zhang B, Wu H, Schellenberg GD, Kraemer B, Luk KC, Lee EB, Brunden KR, Trojanowski JQ and Lee VM-Y : MUSUT2 regulates tau spreading via adensoinergic signaling mediated ASAP1 pathway in neurons. Acta Neuropathol 147: 55, 2024.
Gibbons GS, Gould H, Lee V-MY, Crowe A and Brunden KR: Identification of small molecules and related targets that modulate tau pathology in a seeded primary neuron model J. Biol. Chem. 299: 104876, 2023.
Monti L, Liu LJ, Varricchio C, Lucero B, Alle T, Yang W, Bem-Shalom I, Gilson M, Brunden KR, Brancale A, Caffrey CR and Ballatore C : Structure-activity relationships, tolerability and efficacy of microtubule-active 1,2,4-triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines as potential candidates to treat human African Trypanosomiasis. ChemMedChem In press, 2023.
Zhao X, Zeng W, Xu H, Sun Z, Hu Y, Peng B, McBride JD, Duan J, Deng J, Zhang B, Kim S-J, Zoll B, Saito T, Sasaguri H, Saido TC, Ballatore C, Yao H, Wang Z, Trojanowski JQ, Brunden KR, Lee VM-Y, He Z : A microtubule stabilizer ameliorates protein pathogenesis and neurodegeneration in mouse models of repetitive traumatic brain injury. Science Translational Medicine 15: eabo6889, 2023.
Alle T, Varricchio C, Yao Y, Lucero B, Nzou G, Stefania D, Muench M, Hkoa V, Oukoloff K, Cornex A-S, Francisco K, Caffrey C, Lee V, Smith A III, Brancale A, Brunden KR and Ballatore C : Microtubule-Stabilizing 1,2,4-Triazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines as Candidate Therapeutics for Neurodegenerative Disease: Matched Molecular Pair Analyses and Computational Studies Reveal New Structure-Activity Insights. J Med Chem 64: 1073-1102, 2023.
Foster K, Manca M, McClure K, Koivula P, Trojanowski JQ, Havas D, Chancellor S, Goldstein L, Brunden KR, Kraus A and Ahlijanian MK : Preclinical characterization and IND-enabling safety studies for PNT001, an antibody that recognizes cis-pT231 tau. Alzheimer's & Dementia online ahead of print, 2023.
Uemura MT, Suh E, Robinson JL, Brunden KR, Grossman M, Irwin DJ, Lee VM-Y, Trojanowski JQ, Lee EB and Van Deerlin VM : Abundant co-pathologies of polyglucosan bodies, frontotemporal lobar degeneration with TDP-43 inclusions, and aging-related tau astrogliopathy in a family with GBE1 mutation. Neuropath Applied Neurobiol 49(1): e12865, 2022.