Denes V Agoston

Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

Biography

Denes Agoston is the head of the Translational Neuroscience Laboratory and Professor at the Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Genetics as well as at Program in Neuroscience, Uniformed Services University (USU) in Bethesda, MD, USA. He obtained his M.D. degree (1976) in Hungary. In 1982 he won a Max-Planck-Fellowship and worked at the Department of Neurochemistry, Max-Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, in Gottingen, Germany. Based on this work, he got his Ph.D. degree (1992) in Budapest, Hungary. In 1998 he won a Postdoctoral Award of the German Scientific Council (DFG) to the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. In 1992, he became the Head of Neurodifferentiation at the NICHD, NIH where he worked till 1998 when he moved to USU. Dr Agoston’s early studies focused on synaptic neurochemistry, and on the genetic and epigenetic regulation of neuronal differentiation involving DNA structural changes. After his move to USU, he started to work on traumatic brain injury (TBI) using a variety of techniques and models.

Research Interest

The Agoston Laboratory employs various models and integrated analytical methods including proteomics, histology and neurobehavioral tests enabling to monitor molecular, cellular and functional changes during the various phases of TBI. The Laboratory has also developed several clinical collaborations focusing on the development and validation of protein biomarkers and molecular imaging in the context of disease progression and patient outcome.The Laboratory has identified specific molecular and cellular pathologies that contribute and/or cause the observed neurobehavioral impairments after TBI. Among them, neuroinflammation has emerged as a critical component of the secondary injury process the work in the Laboraroty has shown that early anti-inflammatory treatment can prevent the development of long-term neurobehavioral deficiencies. Current studies in the Laboratory focus on identifying the pathobiology of mild repeated TBI / concussion and related blood based biomarkers.