Kotzbauer Lab

Advances research on neurodegenerative diseases, focusing on Parkinson’s disease and infantile neuroaxonal dystrophy. The lab investigates alpha-synuclein aggregation, neuronal connectivity and enzyme dysfunction to develop Our research group is driven by the intricate complexity of the human brain. To address the challenges of studying brain organization and function, we have developed a multi-faceted research strategy that integrates advanced imaging, behavioral science and computational methods.

Principal investigator

Our team

Recent publications

• Blood-based circular RNAs for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease
  July 31, 2026
  Blood-based circular RNAs for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s diseasePhillips, B., Sanford, J., Janve, V. A., Liu, M., Johnson, M., Gong, K., Bergmann, K., Lowery, J., Flynn, A., Brock, W., Montejo, B. S., Sykora, N., Budde, J., Mellios, N., Papageorgiou, G., Sperling, R. A., Buckley, R. F., Seto, M., Morris, J. C. & Perlmutter, J. S. & 5 others, Kotzbauer, P. T., Perrin, R. J., Hohman, T. J., Ibanez, L. & Cruchaga, C., Aug 2026, In: Nature medicine. 32, 8, p. 2857-2864 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• In Vitro-Prepared A30P Alpha-Synuclein Fibrils Adopt the Conserved and Disease-Relevant Greek Key Fold
  July 15, 2026
  In Vitro-Prepared A30P Alpha-Synuclein Fibrils Adopt the Conserved and Disease-Relevant Greek Key FoldMilchberg, M. H., Warmuth, O. A., Borcik, C. G., Han, R., Harding, B. D., DeZonia, B., Dhavale, D. D., Pierson, J. A., Kotzbauer, P. T., Wright, E. R., Schwieters, C. D. & Rienstra, C. M., Jul 16 2026, In: Journal of Physical Chemistry B. 130, 28, p. 7120-7133 14 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• Large-scale CSF and plasma proteomics reveal immune, synaptic, and extracellular matrix disruptions across neurodegenerative diseases
  July 14, 2026
  Large-scale CSF and plasma proteomics reveal immune, synaptic, and extracellular matrix disruptions across neurodegenerative diseasesKnight Alzheimer Disease Research Center (Knight ADRC), Alzheimer Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), Fundació ACE Alzheimer Center Barcelona (FACE), Barcelona-1, Stanford Alzheimer Disease Research Center (Stanford ADRC) & The Global Neurodegeneration Proteomics Consortium (GNPC), Jul 15 2026, In: Neuron. 114, 14, p. 2549-2565.e7Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• GPND-AI NULISA: A 15-Protein AI classifier for diagnosis and co-pathology profiling across neurodegenerative diseases
  April 30, 2026
  GPND-AI NULISA: A 15-Protein AI classifier for diagnosis and co-pathology profiling across neurodegenerative diseasesXu, Y., Denkinger, M. N., Liu, M., Gong, K., Chen, Y., Western, D., Timsina, J., Cheng, Y., Xie, Y., Mu, R., Budde, J., Beach, T. G., Serrano, G. E., Reiman, E. M., Singh, A., Alfradique-Dunham, I., Benzinger, T. L. S., Schindler, S., Morris, J. & Holtzman, D. M. & 6 others, Perlumtter, J. S., Snider, J., Campbell, M. C., Kotzbauer, P., Ashton, N. J. & Cruchaga, C., May 2026, In: Alzheimer's and Dementia. 22, 5, e71420.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
• Low overlap of plasma and CSF protein quantitative trait loci affects protein discovery for neurological disease
  April 28, 2026
  Low overlap of plasma and CSF protein quantitative trait loci affects protein discovery for neurological diseaseWestern, D., Yang, C., Timsina, J., Liu, M., Wang, C., Campbell, M. C., Kotzbauer, P., Perlmutter, J. S., Schindler, S. E., Morris, J. C., Holtzman, D. M., Alvarez, I., Pastor, P., Wyss-Coray, T., Marquie, M., Cano, A., Sung, Y. J., de Rojas, I., Ruiz, A. & Budde, J. & 4 others, Fernandez, M. V., Tarawneh, R., Ibanez, L. & Cruchaga, C., Apr 29 2026, In: Science translational medicine. 18, 847, eadz2016.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review