Tom Lloyd

Thomas Lloyd, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where he leads the Lloyd Lab within the Department of Neurology. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neuromuscular diseases including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT), and Inclusion Body Myositis (IBM). His work combines Drosophila genetics and human cellular models to investigate fundamental cellular processes such as axonal transport, autophagy, and nucleocytoplasmic transport in neurodegenerative conditions.

Dr. Lloyd received his MD and PhD from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, followed by residency training in Neurology and fellowship in Neuromuscular Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. His laboratory has made significant contributions to understanding how disruptions in intracellular trafficking contribute to neuromuscular degeneration, with particular focus on the role of genes that regulate transport of organelles and survival signals along motor nerve axons.

His research program investigates three key cellular processes:

• Axonal transport - studying how mutations in genes like dynactin and TRPV4 disrupt cargo movement along motor neurons
• Autophagy - examining cellular degradation mechanisms relevant to ALS
• Nucleocytoplasmic transport - investigating nuclear shuttling disruptions in ALS and Frontotemporal Dementia

Dr. Lloyd has developed innovative models including Drosophila systems and human skeletal muscle xenografts to study disease mechanisms. His work has been published in high-impact journals including Nature and Lancet Neurology, with research funded by NIH grants including R01 NS082563.

His laboratory maintains an active training program with multiple postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers. His former trainees have established successful careers in academia, clinical neurology, and industry.