Professor Domenico Praticó
Domenico Praticó, M.D., FCPP holds the Scott Richards North Star Charitable Foundation Chair for Alzheimer’s Research and is Professor of Neural Sciences at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and Founding Director of the Alzheimer’s Center at Temple.
He is an internationally recognized neuropathologist, pharmacologist, and physician whose research focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms of brain health, brain aging, and the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and related tauopathies. Domenico is also a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
His clinical pharmacology research program centers on cell oxidative biology and on bioactive oxidized lipids as biomarkers, mediators of disease, and therapeutic targets, with emphasis on translating laboratory observations into new therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Read The beautiful power of perseverance.
In December 2017, Domenico was named the inaugural Scott Richards North Star Charitable Foundation Chair for Alzheimer’s Research and the founding Director of the Alzheimer’s Center at Temple (ACT), which he led until 2024. The Center, established with a gift from Temple Trustee Phil Richards through the Scott Richards North Star Charitable Foundation, was created to integrate basic, translational, and clinical research on AD and related dementias. Under his leadership, ACT secured a $3.8 million grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health to investigate cardiovascular risk factors in Alzheimer’s pathology, the Center’s first major collaborative award.
Domenico’s lab pioneered the development of specific and sensitive methods to measure oxidative stress in vivo and was the first to demonstrate that brain oxidative stress is an early event in AD pathogenesis, work that helped define the role of neuroinflammation in neurodegeneration. His group has been at the forefront of unraveling how dietary lifestyle influences brain health, demonstrating that extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) activates intracellular degradation pathways such as autophagy that clear amyloid plaques and tau tangles in mouse models of AD.
His 2017 paper in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology showed that chronic EVOO consumption preserves memory and reduces amyloid-β and phosphorylated tau in 3xTg mice, and his 2019 study published in Aging Cell, Extra virgin olive oil improves synaptic activity, short-term plasticity, memory, and neuropathology in a tauopathy model, extended these findings to a primary tauopathy model. Read Olive oil may reduce risk of dementia, Temple doctors find and Temple study: Extra-virgin olive oil preserves memory & protects brain against Alzheimer’s.
Domenico’s findings have been featured prominently in international media. Read New Study Suggests Extra Virgin Olive Oil May Fight Toxic Proteins From Accumulating In The Brain in Forbes, Why Olive Oil Should Be Part of Your New Year’s Resolution in Philadelphia Magazine, Olive oil helps prevent Alzheimer’s, study shows in The Times of Israel, and Canola oil vs. olive oil: Temple studies find one is better for the brain in The Philadelphia Inquirer. He has also discussed his research in Can Extra Virgin Olive Oil Protect Against Alzheimer Disease? for NeurologyLive and on NBC10’s “At Issue” program and in a Q&A with Philadelphia Magazine.
Beyond his work on diet and dementia, Domenico’s lab investigates the role of the endo-lysosomal trafficking system, neuroinflammation, the 5-lipoxygenase pathway, homocysteine and high-fat/high-sugar diets, and proteostasis as modulators of AD pathology. His group was among the first to demonstrate that the intracellular endo-lysosomal transport system is essential for neuronal homeostasis and that it can be targeted therapeutically against neurodegeneration. More recently, his laboratory has explored AI-driven approaches to early Alzheimer’s detection. Read Early Alzheimer’s Detection with Artificial Intelligence and Young-Onset Dementia Tied to New Risk Factors.
Domenico is the author of more than 320 original peer-reviewed articles and 25 chapters in thematic books. His major publications include Increased F2-isoprostanes in Alzheimer’s disease: evidence for enhanced lipid peroxidation in vivo in The FASEB Journal and Extra-virgin olive oil ameliorates cognition and neuropathology of the 3xTg mice: role of autophagy in Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology. His Temple Mediterranean Health profile highlights his work on the Mediterranean diet and brain aging, and the Alzheimer’s Center at Temple continues to advance translational research in his areas of inquiry.
Domenico joined Temple as Professor in August 2007 after nearly a decade at the University of Pennsylvania, where he served as Associate Professor from 2004 to 2007 and as Assistant Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine from 1998 to 2004, with prior appointments as Research Associate from 1996 to 1998 and as Postdoctoral Research Fellow from 1994 to 1995. Earlier, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in pharmacology at University College Dublin from 1992 to 1994.
Domenico earned his Doctor of Medicine in 1986 and his Board Certification (Specializzazione) in Internal Medicine in 1991, both from Sapienza Università di Roma, where he completed his residency in Internal Medicine.
During his career, Domenico has received numerous awards for his research, including the Zenith Award from the Alzheimer’s Association, the Dorothy Dillon Eweson Lectureship from the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), the Irvine H. Page Award, the Paul W. Eberman Faculty Research Award, the Marconi Science Award, and a Glenn Foundation for Medical Research/AFAR Junior Faculty Award.
In 2023, he was named to the Stanford-Elsevier list of the World’s Top 2% Most-Cited Scientists and recognized as a Marquis Who’s Who Honored Listee.
Watch Dr. Domenico Pratico explains how to help keep your brain active and healthy. Read his Contributions on Medium and his author profile on Newswise.
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