简介
Ashley Bush (MBBS, DPM, FRANZCP, PhD), ARC Federation Fellow (2004-09), FTSE (2009-), NHMRC Australia Fellow (2011-2015), FAAHMS (2015-), FAPA (2015-), NHMRC SPRF (2016-2020), NHMRC Leadership Fellow (2021-2025) is Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry at The University of Melbourne, and Head of the Oxidation Biology Group at The Florey Institute of Neuroscience & Mental Health. He is founding scientist of 3 Australian biotech companies that have in-licenced his IP (Alterity Therapeutics - formerly Prana Biotechnology Ltd, Cogstate Ltd, and Collaborative Medicinal Development P/L, Australia); and Co-Director of Biomarker Development for The Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle (AIBL) Study of Ageing. He also holds courtesy staff appointments in Psychiatry and Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, USA.
Bush has made exceptional contributions to the field of neuroscience, most notably his pioneering of the importance and critical role of metals and oxidation in neurological disease and psychoses. His work over the past 20 years has been heavily focused on the role of metals in potentiating neurodegenerative illness, in particular Alzheimer’s disease (AD). His lab has provided the strongest evidence yet that elevated brain iron is a risk factor for AD, and that CSF ferritin is a predictive biomarker for mild cognitive impairment conversion to AD. His lab showed that major Alzheimer-related proteins, such as tau and the amyloid precursor protein or APP, function to regulate iron homeostasis. These results are significant because they show that several of the major proteins implicated in AD normally function to sustain metal homeostasis in AD and in other neurodegenerative diseases.
The impact of his work has moved the field of neurodegeneration towards an appreciation for an underlying disturbance in brain metal homeostasis, providing valuable insights into the development of AD and other brain diseases. As Co-director of Biomarker Development for the AIBL Study, he is also involved in research to identify and validate biomarkers for the early detection and treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. His leadership has led to the pioneering of new predictive tests for AD and innovative, potentially disease-modifying candidate drug treatments. He championed the approach of adjusting the biochemistry of brain metals pharmacologically as a novel therapeutic strategy.
His earlier work on oxidation in degenerative brain diseases led to the investigation of oxidative stress mechanisms as novel treatment targets in psychiatric disorders. This work has provided insights into the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, resulting in the introduction of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) into psychiatric clinical practice and the development and commercialisation of N-acetyl cysteine amide (NACA) for psychiatric, ophthalmic and neurodegenerative diseases. This work recognized major connections between the brain’s endowment of iron and its abnormal handling that leads to depletion of the brain’s principal antioxidant, glutathione. The ramifications have impacts for both the treatment and biomarkers of diseases that are as broadly categorized as schizophrenia, AD and Motor Neurone Disease.
Bush is one of Australia’s most highly cited neuroscientists, and rated in the top 1% of neuroscience researchers worldwide for high impact citations (Clarivate Analytics - World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds, 2014-2016, 2018-2019, 2022). He is also inventor on 28 patents (filed from 1994-2017), two of which resulted in the development of neuropsychological testing software currently in clinical use and deployed world-wide in dementia trials (Cogstate).
Bush has received several awards for his research, is ad hoc reviewer of 48 journals, has published 536+ publications, and continues to provide quality leadership in several sectors of the scientific community.
