AgeneBio Founder and Chief Scientific Officer Receives Society for Neuroscience's Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award

BALTIMORE, Nov. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- AgeneBio, a pharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics that prevent neurodegeneration and preserve and restore brain function, today announced that the Company's founder and chief scientific officer Michela Gallagher, PhD, has received the Society for Neuroscience's Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award. For the past 35 years, Dr. Gallagher's research at Johns Hopkins and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has led to advancements in the field of cognitive neuroscience and has contributed to understanding the neurobiology of the aging brain.  Her recent work has shown that overactivity in key brain circuits contributes to cognitive impairment in individuals with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) who are at increased risk for Alzheimer's dementia. AgeneBio was founded to advance clinical development of therapies for aMCI.

The Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals who have both contributed outstanding achievements in neuroscience and who actively promote professional advancement for women in neuroscience. The award will be presented to Dr. Gallagher during the Society for Neuroscience's annual meeting in Washington, DC. 

"I am honored to be recognized by the Society for Neuroscience," said Dr. Gallagher. "I share this award with the mentors, colleagues and terrific students who have contributed to the work over so many years."

Author of more than 250 peer-reviewed papers, Dr. Gallagher brings her expertise to AgeneBio as it seeks to advance discoveries to address mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease. She is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Psychological and Brain Science and heads the Neurogenetics and Behavior Center at Johns Hopkins University. She is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, the American Psychological Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In 2010, Dr. Gallagher was the recipient of the American Psychological Association, D.O. Hebb Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award. She was also the recipient of a Senior Research Scientist Award from National Institute of Mental Health (1990-1999), a Freedom to Discover Award from the Bristol-Myers Foundation (2003-2008), and Senior Scientist Award from the Ellison Medical Foundation (2008-2012). She has served the on Boards of Scientific Counselors at the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute on Aging and currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins in 1997, Dr. Gallagher rose through the faculty ranks at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was the Kenan Professor of Psychology. She earned her PhD in Physiological Psychology from University of Vermont.

About AgeneBio
AgeneBio is an emerging pharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing innovative therapeutics that prevent neurodegeneration and preserve and restore cognitive function for unserved patient populations. AgeneBio's novel pipeline of therapies for neurological and psychiatric disease is based on research at Johns Hopkins and leading research centers worldwide showing that overactivity in key brain circuits contributes to cognitive impairment and drives neurodegeneration if not controlled. This overactivity is a characteristic feature of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), a clinically defined condition in the elderly recognized as a transition from normal aging to dementia. If approved, AgeneBio's Phase III-ready lead candidate, AGB101, will be the first and only therapeutic for aMCI and potentially the first therapeutic to slow progression to and delay the onsite of Alzheimer's dementia. AgeneBio also has a novel GABA_A α5 small molecule program in late discovery stage with potential to address unmet needs for several diseases of the central nervous system including aMCI, autism and schizophrenia. Learn more at www.agenebio.com.

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