Melissa E. Murray

Melissa E. Murray, Ph.D., is a Professor of Neuroscience at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, with joint appointments in the Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. She leads the Translational Neuropathology Laboratory, where her research focuses on understanding the heterogeneity of Alzheimer’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders through integrated neuropathological, neuroimaging, and genetic approaches.

Dr. Murray’s research interests include atypical Alzheimer’s disease, selective hippocampal vulnerability, dementia with Lewy bodies, tauopathies, TDP-43 proteinopathies, and the impact of cerebrovascular disease on cognitive decline. Her lab employs advanced digital pathology and neuroimaging techniques to quantify brain changes and identify biomarkers that improve diagnostic accuracy and track disease progression.

Her recent research trends focus on molecular and clinicopathologic heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s disease, including gene expression changes in the hippocampus, ethnoracial differences in disease survival, and the interplay between age, sex, and neuroanatomical vulnerability. She has published extensively on neuropathologic subtypes of AD and the use of PET imaging to detect tau pathology.

Dr. Murray has received numerous scientific honors, including:

• Investigator of the Year, Mayo Clinic Florida (2022)
• Highly Cited Researcher, Clarivate (2020)
• de Leon Prize in Neuroimaging, Alzheimer’s Association (2016)
• Franz Nissl Young Investigator Award (2014)
• 40 Under 40 Award, Jacksonville Business Journal (2014)

She has served as Principal Investigator on multiple NIH and Alzheimer’s Association grants, including studies on tau pathology in young-onset Alzheimer’s disease and the molecular underpinnings of clinical heterogeneity in AD. Dr. Murray has also chaired the Atypical Alzheimer’s Disease and Associated Syndromes group for the Alzheimer’s Association (2016–2021). Her lab, the Translational Neuropathology Laboratory, is actively involved in mentoring researchers and advancing neuropathological methodologies to uncover the biological mechanisms behind variable disease expression.