Journal of Addiction Research & Therapy
Open Access

Cheryl Hawkes

Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, UK

Biography

Cheryl Hawkes completed his Ph.D. in Neurological Sciences at McGill University in 2006, studying the role of the insulin-like growth factor-II (IGF-II/M6P) receptor in the regulation of cholinergic neurons.He then undertook a post-doctoral fellowship at the Tanz Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Toronto, where he conducted experiments using small molecules to prevent the accumulation of the β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide that occurs in the Alzheimer’s disease brain.He joined the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Southampton in 2009 to study how the blood vessels of the brain change with age and how this impacts on the development of Alzheimer’s disease. In 2014, he joined the Dept. of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences at the Open University as a Lecturer in Neuroscience to continue working on the vasculature of the ageing brain and the aetiology of Cerebraly Amyloid Angiopathy.

Research Interest

Pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), with particular focus on cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA), the deposition of toxic ß-amyloid (Aß) aggregates that accumulate in the walls of blood vessels in the elderly brain. These vascular Aβ deposits cause vasoconstriction, inhibit angiogenesis and induce endothelial and smooth muscle cell death, leading to microhaemorrhage, stroke and dementia. Despite affecting nearly 30% of all elderly individuals and over 90% of AD patients, this phenomenon is significantly under-researched. Moreover, there are no currently approved therapies for the treatment or prevention of CAA.

Publications