William Stephen S. Brimijoin PhD

Stephen Brimijoin, Ph.D., is broadly interested in the molecular neurobiology, pharmacology, and toxicology of cholinesterases, including the role of these enzymes in neurotransmission and their involvement in disease.

Early on, he and his team produced monoclonal antibodies that unexpectedly destroyed cholinergic pathways in rats, which led to a unique animal model for neuroimmunology. Later, they studied cholinesterases as biological targets of drugs, chemical warfare agents, and pesticides, and also as active participants in neurological disorders.

They showed that acetylcholinesterase can promote deposits of brain amyloid in Alzheimer's disease and, with other Mayo Clinic investigators, worked to design new drugs to block this pathologic effect, creating a novel line of transgenic mice to test their therapeutic potential.