Rahul Desikan

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Rahul Desikan in 2018.

Rahul Desikan (June 6, 1978 – July 14, 2019) was an Indian-American

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).[4][5] Desikan was vocal about the need for increased awareness and research funding for ALS, and voiced his unique perspective as both ALS researcher and ALS patient in op-ed articles appearing in a regular column in the Washington Post[6] as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle[7] and Scientific American.[8]

Education and early influences

Desikan graduated from

UCSD.[9]

Research on neurodegenerative disease

Desikan's work focused on investigating the

brain diseases.[10]

Scientific contributions

neurodegenerative diseases, specifically Alzheimer's disease
. His major scientific contributions included:

1) Development of an automated atlas of the human

neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease
.

2) Characterization of the synergistic relationship between amyloid and tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease.[12][13]

3) Development of the polygenic hazard score (PHS)

23andme and Ancestry.com, is available from Dash Genomics.[19]

4) Helping develop and validate methods to quantify genetic pleiotropy.[20] These genetic pleiotropy methods have provided valuable insights across a number of diseases and identified Novel Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with increased risk for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder,[21] Alzheimer's disease,[22] Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia,[23][24] corticobasal degeneration,[25] hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and coronary artery disease.[26]

ALS diagnosis

In February 2017, Desikan was diagnosed with

cardiovascular PHS for Alzheimer's disease and characterizing the genetic architecture of ALS.[28][29] The ALS Association featured his unique story and groundbreaking work in a 2018 article.[30] Boston University's Bostonia magazine featured Desikan in a 2018 article.[31] Desikan's story was also featured as a cover story on American Broadcasting Company's Good Morning America on Friday, November 23, 2018.[32][33] He died on July 14, 2019, two and a half years after being diagnosed with a rapidly-progressive form of ALS.[34]

Music

Desikan was an amateur musician and DJ. Even after the ALS diagnosis, Desikan created and recorded mixes, mainly using Native Instrument's Traktor software, with a motion capture system attached to himself. Desikan's mixes and live recordings are published on his SoundCloud page under the alias Rahul Quila.[35]

Awards

  • 2011 Top Cited Article from 2006 to 2010, NeuroImage
  • 2012 Cornelius G. Dyke Memorial Award[36]
  • 2016 Boerger Research Fund for Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurocognitive Disorders[37]
  • 2016–2017 Junior Investigator Award, National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center[38]
  • 2017 Outstanding Fellow / Clinical Instructor Teaching Award, UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging[39]
  • 2017–2019 Alzheimer's Neuroimaging Award, ASNR Foundation[40]

References

  1. ^ "Rahul Desikan | UCSF Profiles". profiles.ucsf.edu. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  2. ^ "Laboratory for Precision Neuroimaging". Laboratory for Precision Neuroimaging at UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  3. ^ "Neuroimaging RIG". UCSF Radiology. May 8, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  4. ^ a b McGinley, Laurie. "Devastated by ALS, trying to save others". The Washington Post.
  5. ^ "Rahul Desikan's Quest to Find Out What Causes ALS | Bostonia | BU Alumni Magazine". www.bu.edu. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  6. ^ Desikan, Rahul. "I'm a scientist studying brain illnesses. Now I'm a lock-in, living with one of them: Lou Gehrig's disease". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ Desikan, Rahul (March 2019). "Genetic research may hold promise for ALS, Alzheimer's". San Francisco Chronicle.
  8. ^ Desikan, Rahul. "How Well Can a Genetic Test Predict Your Future Health?". Scientific American.
  9. S2CID 12420386
    .
  10. ^ a b "UCSF Researcher Identifies Risk Genes for ALS". UC San Francisco. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  11. ^
    S2CID 9629554
    .
  12. ^ "Tau-associated MAPT gene increases risk for Alzheimer's disease". ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  13. PMID 22529247
    .
  14. ^ "New Alzheimer's test can predict age when disease will appear". The Guardian. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  15. ^ "Soon a gene test may predict the age at which you may be at risk of Alzheimer's". Hindustan Times. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  16. PMID 28323831
    .
  17. ^ "New Test Helps People Predict When They May Get Alzheimer's Disease". The Independent. March 21, 2017.
  18. PMID 15054051
    .
  19. ^ "Personalized Alzheimer's disease risk from your genomic data". Dash Genomics. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  20. PMID 23375658
    .
  21. PMID 23637625
    .
  22. PMID 25862742
    .
  23. PMID 27899424
    .
  24. ^ "Establishing a Link Between Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) and Immune Dysfunction". UCSF Radiology. January 11, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  25. PMID 28271184
    .
  26. PMID 26487741
    .
  27. ^ "New Study Reveals Two Genes Associated with High Risk for ALS". ALS News Today.
  28. ^ a b Desikan, Vasudha (June 10, 2018), Rahul UCSF Talk, retrieved August 5, 2018
  29. ^ a b "Rahul Desikan – Google Scholar Citations". Google Scholar. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  30. ^ "ALS Researcher Living With ALS Continues to Work Toward a Cure". ALS Association.
  31. ^ "Rahul Desikan's story of love, science and facing down death". bu.
  32. ^ "ALS researcher living with the disease still fighting for a cure". ABC News.
  33. ^ America, Good Morning. "Scientist races to find a cure for ALS while battling the disease himself". Good Morning America. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  34. ^ Christopher Hess "Rahul Desikan, MD, PhD (1978–2019)" UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imagery. Published July 15, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  35. ^ "Rahul Quila". SoundCloud. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  36. ^ "Cornelius G Dyke Memorial Award". ASNR.
  37. ^ "Boerger Research Fund". ASNR. February 10, 2017.
  38. ^ "Junior Investigator Award". NACC.
  39. ^ "Outstanding Fellow/Clinical Instructor Award". UCSF. March 28, 2016.
  40. ^ "Grant Recipients". The Foundation of the ASNR. February 11, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rahul_Desikan&oldid=1188151559"