[BIC-announce] [NEURO] Special Seminar - The role of multiparametric spinal MRI in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis- December 11, 2014 (Pierre-Francois Pradat)

[Sylvain Baillet, Dr]

SPECIAL SEMINAR ANNOUNCEMENT:

Thursday, December 11 at 4:00 pm

de Grandpré Communications Centre, MNI

“The role of multiparametric spinal MRI in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis”

Pierre-François Pradat, MD, PhD
Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière
L'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Épinière (ICM)
France

Dr. Pierre-François Pradat is an expert in motor neuron diseases (MNDs). He obtained his medical degree at the Sorbonne University-UPMC and a PhD at the same institution in 2001. During his thesis work supervised by Jacques Mallet, he demonstrated the therapeutic effect of delivery of neurotrophic factors by gene therapy in animal models of peripheral neuropathies and MNDs. He moved to the USA for his post-doctoral research at Harvard Medical School in R.H. Brown’s laboratory and conducted research on drug screening in in vitro models of ALS. He then returned to the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital where he has been practicing neurology for more than 10 years with special expertise in MNDs. He works with V. Meininger in the most important French ALS Center (cohort of 1000 ALS patients).

Dr. Pradat’s research interests have focused on translational and clinical research in MNDs. His research contributed to better understand the role muscular abnormalities in ALS pathogenesis and to identify new targets. Following his findings on the role of Nogo-A overexpression in muscles of ALS patients, a large innovative therapeutic trial with monoclonal anti-Nogo-A antibodies was launched. Most recently, Dr. Pradat is the PI of a research program on muscle transcriptome in ALS and other MNDs (SMA and SBMA). His other expertise is neuroimaging and more specifically spinal cord imaging. He has received funding from the AFM (French Association for Myopathies) to develop an integrated and combined advanced neuroimaging and electrophysiological approach to investigate the participation of motor and non-motor systems in MNDs.  Dr. Pradat has developed collaborations with several research groups to develop potential biomarkers that would be useful for early diagnosis, linkage to prognosis and therapeutic monitoring in MNDs. Dr. Pradat is also conducting clinical research to improve the management and the quality of life of patients with ALS.

Dr. Pradat is an active member of the Scientific Council of the French Association for Research in ALS (ARSla) as vice-chairman and of the Institute for Research on Spinal Cord and Brain (IRME) and the Foundation for Brain Research (FRC).

The research that he and his colleagues conducted has been published in Annals of Neurology, Neurology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Brain, Human Gene Therapy, Gene Therapy, Neuroimage and elsewhere. By March 2014 he (co)authored 96 peer-reviewed papers in international journals.

*Dr. Pradat is a candidate for a faculty position in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery.

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