Joshua Dubnau

Joshua Dubnau is a Professor and Director of the Center for Developmental Genetics at Stony Brook University's Renaissance School of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology. His research has established him as a leading expert in neurodegenerative disease mechanisms, with particular focus on ALS, frontotemporal dementia, and Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Dubnau received his PhD from Columbia University and completed his postdoctoral training at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, establishing a strong foundation in genetics and molecular biology that would later inform his groundbreaking work on neurodegenerative disorders.

Dr. Dubnau's research program centers on the novel hypothesis that retrotransposon activation plays a critical role in age-related neurodegenerative diseases. His laboratory investigates how these viral-like genetic elements, which constitute approximately 40% of the human genome, become activated in conditions such as ALS and frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Using a multidisciplinary approach that spans Drosophila genetics, rodent models, human post-mortem tissue analysis, clinical biomarker studies, and cell culture assays, his work has revealed connections between TDP-43 proteinopathy and retrotransposon activation that drive neurodegeneration through intercellular spread mechanisms.

Analysis of Dr. Dubnau's publication record from 2018-2024 reveals a consistent research trajectory focused on retrotransposons in neurodegeneration, with increasing emphasis on intercellular transmission mechanisms, molecular subtypes of ALS, and potential therapeutic targets such as SF2/SRSF1. His work spans multiple disciplines including molecular neuroscience, genetics, virology, and neuropathology, demonstrating how retrotransposon biology intersects with fundamental mechanisms of neuronal death in age-related disorders.

As Director of the Center for Developmental Genetics, Dr. Dubnau leads a research program that integrates basic science with clinical applications, currently enrolling patients in an ALS biomarker study. His laboratory employs innovative techniques such as Cellular labeling of endogenous retrovirus replication (CLEVR) to track retrotransposon activity in aging neural tissue, and has established Drosophila models that recapitulate key aspects of human neurodegenerative diseases. The Dubnau lab's collaborative approach is evident in numerous multi-institutional consortium publications, particularly through the New York Genome Center ALS Consortium.