Colin L. Masters

Colin L. Masters (* 1947 in Perth ) is an Australian physician ( neuropathology ) who is known for research on Alzheimer's disease .

Masters studied medicine at the University of Western Australia from 1964 , where he did research in neuroscience from 1966, in particular on neuronal degenerative diseases such as Kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease . After clinical work for the missionary service in Calcutta in 1970/71, he was at the Royal Perth Hospital in Perth , where he was also co-founder of the medical service for Aborigines in 1973 . At the same time he continued research at the University of Western Australia, in 1976/77 at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Medical School , at the National Institutes of Health (1977 to 1980) and 1980/81 as a Humboldt fellow at the University of Heidelberg , where he was with Konrad Beyreuther again in 1988 . From 1981 he was again a scientist at the University of Western Australia and the Royal Perth Hospital. From 1989 to 2006 he was a professor at the University of Melbourne and head of the pathology department. Since 2002 he has been Laureate Professor of Neuroscience there . He has been Director of the Mental Health Research Institute at the University of Melbourne since 2007.

Masters cleared with Beyreuther, with whom he worked from 1984, the structure of the beta-amyloid - plaques on in Alzheimer's disease. From the late 1980s onwards he developed strategies for drugs against Alzheimer's disease, working with the pharmaceutical companies SmithKline Beecham and Merck. Among other things, efforts are aimed at suppressing the enzymes ( gamma secretase , beta secretase ) that create beta amyloids from their predecessor molecules ( amyloid precursor protein , APP), as well as the interaction of beta amyloids with metal ions that are important for their toxic effect.

In 1991 he and Beyreuther received the Max Planck Research Prize and in 1995 they both received the K. J. Zülch Prize , the Potamkin Prize of the American Academy of Neurology (1990), the Gunther Buch and Robert Pfleger Prize (1987). In 1997 he received the König Faisal Prize for Medicine with Beyreuther and James F. Gusella . In 1998 he received the Alois Alzheimer Prize in Munich and in 2002 the Mayne Florey Medal. He is a member of the Australian Academy of Sciences (1999), the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the Royal College of Pathologists in London and the Royal College of Pathologists in Australasia. He is an honorary doctorate from the University of Western Australia.

Web links

• Masters CV, pdf