Professor Stuart Maudsley

Stuart Maudsley, Ph.D. is Odysseus Professor and Vice-Chair of the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Antwerp (UA). He is the Leader of the Translational Neurobiology Group at the VIB-Department of Molecular Genetics (VIB-DMG) at the University of Antwerp, where he is also Adjunct Director of the VIB-DMG. In addition he is also a founding core member of the University of Antwerp Center for Proteomics Steering Group.

Stuart’s primary contribution to science is in the field of receptor systems biology and pharmacotherapeutics design — within this field Stuart is one of the world’s leading young investigators.

His research focuses on the age-dependent changes in receptor pharmacology associated with neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and Frontotemporal dementia. His Maudsley Lab at the University of Antwerp/VIB works on both ‘wet’ GPCR pharmacological solutions to neurodegenerative issues but also upon informatic pharmacological tools to support ‘wet’ drug design. They are focused on the development of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)-based therapeutic strategies for multiple central nervous system degenerative disorders.

They aim to develop a highly nuanced understanding of the cellular signaling pathways that control the generation of complex age-related diseases. Hyper-complex events such as aging, while being amazingly intricate, are still controlled in an organized manner by what we term ‘Keystone’ proteins that exert a master regulator effect over multiple signaling systems. They want to employ GPCR-targeted therapies to control these hyper-complex biological events through a specific control of these ‘Keystone’ proteins.

Working with GPCRs has allowed Stuart to understand the mechanistic intersections between physiology and pathophysiology in a broad spectrum of clinical settings such as nociception, cardiovascular science, reproductive biology, molecular gerontology, diabetes and metabolic disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and psychoactive disorders. GPCRs are really the prototypic biological ‘nanomachine’ that controls nearly every aspect of biology.

Stuart is the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. He leads a multidisciplinary section that combines proteomic and bioinformatic investigation to understand the molecular signaling architecture of complex aging-related diseases. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the journal Current Advances in Neurology and Neurological Disorders.

Stuart earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Science from the University of Leeds in 1993 with First Class Honors in Pharmacology and was awarded the Pfizer Prize for undergraduate research.

He earned his Ph.D. in Receptor Pharmacology from the University of Leeds in 1996. For his doctoral work, Stuart was one of only 6 recipients (from a University population of 40,000) of the University’s venerated ‘Named Scholarships’. He was thereafter awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Fellowship to train with Professor Robert Lefkowitz (2012 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry) at Duke University in 1997 until 2000.

Stuart was then recruited to be Principal Investigator of the Receptor Biology Section at the Medical Research Council Human Reproductive Sciences Unit at the University of Edinburgh in the UK until 2004. During his time at the MRC, his drug discovery and development abilities was implicit in his recruitment as a scientific advisor to Ardana Bioscience from Edinburg on Receptor Therapeutics where he subsequently developed a novel prostate cancer therapeutic.

After successfully developing a line of receptor-based novel prostate cancer therapeutics at the MRC, Stuart was then recruited by the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) where he worked for the next decade as the Head of the Receptor Pharmacology Unit at the NIH-National Institute on Aging at Johns Hopkins Medical School.

In his time at the NIH, Stuart was recognized as a ‘Scientist of Extraordinary Ability’ by the U.S. Government Naturalization services through his award of the highest level of employment recognition, i.e. an EB1A visa award. In addition, while at the NIH, Stuart was the recipient of multiple NIH ‘On-the-Spot’ Excellence Awards, co-recipient of the 2011 Obesity National Best practice award as well as a recipient of the coveted NIH ‘Bench-to-Bedside’ Translational Research Grant Award (one of the few awards available at the NIH) for his work on neurotrophin receptor functionality in rare disorders. Upon starting a new family, and returning to Europe, Stuart continued his rigorous scientific training with his award of the highly-prized and exclusive Odysseus Program Grant.

Stuart is also host of the successful Pint of Science event in Antwerp. Their first event was sold out and was a huge success. The reason behind the launch of the event, was to bring their research to the people that matter — the public. Their ‘Beautiful Mind’ event spread over three days, and contained some fascinating and friendly talks from some of the best neuroscientists at the University.

Stuart’s though on why science events like this, which are open to the public, are so important:

I think they’re important for two reasons — firstly, it’s so important for the integration of science in our popular culture that talented and enthusiastic scientists can easily mingle and discuss their research with the people that pay for it and will eventually benefit from it.

Secondly, I think that it’s a wonderful experience for the scientists themselves as the act of science communication itself helps us to better understand the relevance of what we do and really helps us come up with new ideas and insights — inspiration can come from anywhere and getting fresh new perspectives is invaluable.

Stuart’s favourite quote is a quote by Linus Pauling:

“If you want to have good ideas, you must have many ideas.”

But more importantly, Stuart favors teamwork above a single particular scientific discovery or idea. He admires those that conduct science to the very best of their ability, solely for the cause of improving the lives of others. Selfless, dedicated scientists — many of whom are never known — form the cornerstone of our research community.

Read the interview with Stuart in Interviews with Scientists at HelloBio.

Follow Stuart on Facebook, where he posts interesting articles on the subjects of health, aging, and biotechnology.

Visit his FRIS Research profile, LinkedIn profile, Loop profile, Pub Facts profile, and Publons profile. View his homepage, Google Scholar page, and Muck Rack page. Follow him on Academia, Facebook, Semantic Scholar, and Twitter.