Markku Kurkinen
Markku Kurkinen
October 8, 1949, Mikkeli, Finland
Finnish Citizen, Permanent Resident of the USA
1974 MS, University of Helsinki, Finland
1979 PhD, University of Helsinki, Finland (thesis advisor Antti Vaheri)
1980–1983 post-doctoral work with Brigid Hogan, Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), Mill Hill, London, UK
1983–1984 EMBO Fellow, State University of New York (SUNY), Stony Brook, New York, USA (with Sid Strickland) and University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), Rutgers Medical School, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA (with Darwin J. Prockop)
1984–1986 Assistant Professor, UMDNJ (with Darwin J. Prockop)
1986–1992 Associate Professor, Chief of Division of Connective Tissue Research, UMDNJ (with Edward D. Harris)
1992–2019 Professor, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics, Detroit, Michigan, USA (with Robert H. Rownd, founder and director of CMMG 1988-97)
2018–2023 Board of Directors, Biomed Industries, Inc, San Jose, California, USA
2018–present, Consultant, Senior Research Fellow, NeuroActiva, Inc, San Jose, California, USA
Past research on cell and developmental biology, molecular biology of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) enzymes, gene cloning and transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Major research support provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 18 years, $4,5 million in direct costs.
Current research interests include drug discovery and clinical development for the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive, neurologic and psychiatric brain disorders
Published research in 106 papers, reviews and book chapters, 7877 citations. Top 10 papers cited by 3496 (Google Scholar)
Invited speaker at international conferences. Most recently at Vascular Dementia, January 2019, Stockport, UK, ASIC2019, February 2019, San Francisco, USA, WCAP (World Congress of Asian Psychiatry), February 2019, Sydney, Australia, and Psychogeriatric Congress, November 2019, Wroclaw, Poland.
Together with Lloyd Tran organized the first Alzheimer Society International Congress (ASIC2019), a 4-day meeting at Crowne Plaza San Francisco Airport, February 18-21, 2019. Helped arrange and invite speakers for a 90-min webinar on Lecanemab in Alzheimer’s disease, June 22, 2023, sponsored by Alzheimer International Society (AIS), alzint.com
Publications (since 2017)
Daly, T, Olluri, A, Kurkinen, M (2024) Anti-amyloid treatments in Alzheimer’s disease: elegance, evidence, and ethics. Adv Clin Exp Med 33:1303–1309
Kurkinen M, Daly T (2024) Survival time in Alzheimer’s disease: an overlooked measure of safety and efficacy of disease-modifying therapies. Adv Clin Exp Med 33:1039–1043
Daly T, Kurkinen M (2024) Measuring our language about anti-amyloid antibodies in Alzheimer’s disease: technical, theoretical, and lay language considerations. Clin Neurol Neurosurg 241:108314
Kurkinen M (2024) Anti-amyloid therapies do not slow Alzheimer’s disease progression. Dementia Neuropsychol 17:e20230099
Kurkinen M (2023) Donanemab: Not two without a third. Add Clin Exp Med 32:1085–1087
Kurkinen M (2023) Lecanemab (Leqembi) is not the right drug for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Adv Clin Exp Med 32:943–947
Kurkinen M, Fułek M, Fułek K, Beszłej JA, Kurpas D, Leszek J (2023) The amyloid cascade hypothesis in Alzheimer’s disease: Should we change our thinking? Biomolecules 13:453
Kurkinen M (2022) Astrocyte glutamate transporter EAAT2 in Alzheimer dementia. Glutamate and Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Current and Emerging Treatments (Zoran Pavlovic, Ed.) Berlin, Germany; Springer Nature:229–260
Kurkinen M, Tran L (2021) Aduhelm: The best hope for Alzheimer’s patients or the worst decision the FDA ever made? J Alzheimers Dis 84:969–971
Kurkinen M (2021) Alzheimer’s trials: A cul-de-sac with no end in sight. Adv Clin Exp Med 30:653–654
Kurkinen M (2018) Alzheimer’s dementia drug discovery: targeting astrocyte glutamate uptake. Conn’s Handbook of Models for Human Aging, 2nd Ed (Ronald Conn and Jeffrey Ram, Eds.) Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Elsevier:587–591
Kurkinen M (2017) The amyloid hypothesis is too good to be true. Alzheimers Dement Cogn Neurol 1:1–9