Karen E. Duff BSc, PhD

Dr. Duff joined Columbia University with a joint appointment at the NYS Psychiatric Institute in 2006, and she currently holds appointments in the depts. of Pathology and Cell Biology, Psychiatry and the Taub Institute for research on Alzheimer’s, and the aging brain. In the last 20 years, Dr. Duff has genetically engineered several widely used mouse models for AD, tauopathies and synucleinopathies. These mice have been used in studies ranging from MRI and PET for diagnostics development, to proof-of-concept testing of therapeutic targets.

Currently, her main interests are fourfold - studying how AD related pathology and dysfunction propagates though the brain and from cell to cell as the disease worsens; using multi-omics platforms to study the role of aging and inheritance of the AD risk variant APOE4 as an initiating factor in AD; the role and therapeutic potential of protein clearance pathways in tauopathies and the basis and manipulation of memory deficits using optogenetic and brain stimulation techniques.

Dr. Duff received her Ph.D from Sydney Brenner’s dept at the University of Cambridge in 1991, then moved to London to work briefly with Alison Goate before moving to the US with John Hardy in 1992 to a position at the University of South Florida. In 1996, she moved her lab to the Mayo Clinic Florida and in 1998 to the Nathan Kline Institute/New York University. She has published over 140 peer reviewed papers and has received several awards, the most prestigious being the Potamkin Prize in 2006.