Lawrence Rajendran's Biography

Lawrence Rajendran, Velux Stiftung Professor for Systems and Cell Biology of Neurodegeneration, University of Zurich

Prof. Lawrence Rajendran is a renowned expert in the cell biology of Alzheimer’s disease. He studied the mechanisms by which cells regulate the production of the amyloid ß (Aß) peptide, a central molecule in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. Particularly, he studied the involvement of lipids and membrane trafficking in Aß metabolism and using biochemical, genetic and cell biological tools, he identified early endosomes to be the organelles responsible for Aß production. He discovered a novel exosomal pathway through which the Aß peptides could exit the cell to accumulate in the form of amyloid plaques. Two years after identifying the subcellular organelle responsible for Aß production, he showed that ß-secretase, the rate-limiting enzyme in Aß production, can be efficiently inhibited if a soluble ß-secretase inhibitor is targeted to the endosomes via membrane anchoring. This work provided key insights into designing effective drugs for membrane-associated targets. Thus his lab focuses on understanding the role of extracellular vesicles in Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Rajendran has made pioneering contributions in the field of exosomes and neurodegeneration. He is one of the founding members of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) and served in the board as the Steering committee member. He is the founder of the Facebook platform for the ISEV. He is the founder and Chairman of Sciencematters, the next generation science journal platform. On the social side, He is the founder of raise.rural, a non-profit organization dedicated to support rural students in India to pursue research. He has won many awards and honors including the German Neuroscience Society's Schilling's prize, the Breuer Award, the National Medal of Honor and the President’s Prize by the Govt. of Panama, German Alzheimer’s Hirnliga’s Steinberg-Krupp Prize, Outstanding Young Investigator award of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, The Boehringer Ingelheim Apopis Prize, European Neuroscience Society Award and a University gold medalist in both Bachelors and Masters. Rajendran featured in the 2009 World's top 100 Scientists.