Varghese John

Varghese John, a Professor in the Department of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), specializes in Alzheimer's disease and central nervous system (CNS) disorders. His research focuses on identifying small molecule therapeutics targeting amyloid precursor protein (APP) proteolysis, tau propagation, and neuroinflammation through innovative drug discovery approaches.

Key research areas include:

• BACE1 inhibition for APP-selective modulation
• Sirtuin 1 enhancers targeting ApoE4 pathology
• Exosome dynamics in neurodegenerative diseases
• γ-oscillation restoration for cognitive improvement

Recent publications highlight:

• 2025: Three APP-selective BACE1 inhibitors with improved specificity
• 2024: γ-oscillation enhancers demonstrating cognitive benefits
• 2023: PAK inhibitors for Down syndrome models and multi-system gene expression in Parkinson's disease

Awards include the Amgen Early Innovator Award (2019) for CNS enzyme delivery research. Current NIH grants focus on:

• R01AG073377 (2022-2027): sAPPalpha analogs for tau pathology
• RF1AG068116 (2021-2024): Humanin mimetics for AD
• R01AG051386 (2015-2021): ApoE4-targeted SirT1 modulation