Gomperts Lab: Stephen N. Gomperts, MD, PhD

Overview

Dr. Gomperts's basic and clinical research focuses on Parkinson's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, and Alzheimer's disease. In human studies, he is working to understand the causes of cognitive impairment that can arise in these diseases with PET imaging of pathogenic processes, such as the accumulation of beta-amyloid and tau and the loss of dopamine neurons projecting to brain regions that subserve cognition. In animal models, he uses large scale, multi-electrode recordings of brain cell activity together with optogenetic tools to investigate normal brain function and develop treatments to restore brain function in these diseases.

Research Projects

Could Brain Amyloid Deposition be a Factor in Early Onset Dementia in Patients with Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB)?

In this clinical study we sought to confirm the hypothesis that brain amyloid deposition, an early feature of Dementia with Lewy Bodies, may account, in part, for its early dementia. We also sought to determine whether amyloid accumulation contributes to cognitive impairment and dementia in the broad range of parkinsonian diseases. Many patients with Parkinson's disease develop PD with dementia (PDD), a syndrome that overlaps clinically and pathologically with dementia with Lewy bodies; PDD and DLB differ chiefly in the relative timing of dementia and parkinsonism.

Research Positions

Read about and apply for residency, fellowship and observership programs in neurology.

All applicants should register with the Mass General Careers website.

Selected Publications

Tau Positron Emission Tomographic Imaging in the Lewy Body Diseases.
Gomperts SN, Locascio JJ, Makaretz SJ, Schultz A, Caso C, Vasdev N, Sperling R, Growdon JH, Dickerson BC, Johnson K.
JAMA Neurol. 2016 Nov 1;73(11):1334-1341. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2016.3338.

PET Radioligands Reveal the Basis of Dementia in Parkinson's Disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies.
Gomperts SN, Marquie M, Locascio JJ, Bayer S, Johnson KA, Growdon JH.
Neurodegener Dis. 2016;16(1-2):118-24. doi: 10.1159/000441421. Epub 2015 Dec 8.

VTA neurons coordinate with the hippocampal reactivation of spatial experience.
Gomperts SN, Kloosterman F, Wilson MA.
Elife. 2015 Oct 14;4. pii: e05360. doi: 10.7554/eLife.05360.