Rahul Desikan

Rahul Desikan (June 6, 1978 – July 14, 2019) was an Indian-American neuroscientist and neuroradiologist. He was an Assistant Professor of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco,[1] and co-director of Laboratory for Precision Neuroimaging.[2][3] Desikan's achievements became publicly known in a Washington Post article detailing his lifelong commitment to preventing and treating Alzheimer's disease and his continuing work as a scientist living with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).[4][5] Desikan was vocal about the need for increased awareness and research funding for ALS, and voiced his unique perspective as both ALS researcher and ALS patient in op-ed articles appearing in a regular column in the Washington Post[6] as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle[7] and Scientific American.[8]

Rahul Desikan in 2018.

Education and early influences

Desikan graduated from The Bronx High School of Science, a school for gifted students, in 1995. Desikan completed his BA, MD and PhD training at Boston University, Radiology Residency at UCSD and Neuroradiology Fellowship at UCSF. He completed postdoctoral fellowships in Neuroimaging with Bruce Fischl at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Neurogenetics with Anders Dale at UCSD.[9]

Research on neurodegenerative disease

Desikan's work focused on investigating the pathobiology underlying neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders.[10] Using 'big data' acquired through ongoing global collaborations, he innovated a variety of cross disciplinary methods to identify novel risk factors for brain diseases.[10]

Scientific contributions
The Desikan-Killiany Atlas (Desikan et al., 2006) is a 35 area cortical atlas that is based on gyral morphology.
Regions of the Desikan-Killiany atlas.[11]
Polygenic hazard score (PHS) for predicting Alzheimer's disease age of onset.

Desikan's scientific career focused on helping to understand and treat neurodegenerative diseases, specifically Alzheimer's disease. His major scientific contributions included:

1) Development of an automated atlas of the human cerebral cortex (Desikan-Killiany Atlas in FreeSurfer),[11] and its role as a quantitative biomarker for neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease.

2) Characterization of the synergistic relationship between amyloid and tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease.[12][13]

3) Development of the polygenic hazard score (PHS)[14][15] for predicting Alzheimer's disease age of onset, in collaboration with Chun Chieh Fan and Anders Dale.[16][17][18] A commercial version of PHS, which calculates genetic risk for an individual using genomic data from 23andme and Ancestry.com, is available from Dash Genomics.[19]

4) Helping develop and validate methods to quantify genetic pleiotropy.[20] These genetic pleiotropy methods have provided valuable insights across a number of diseases and identified Novel Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with increased risk for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder,[21] Alzheimer's disease,[22] Parkinson's disease, frontotemporal dementia,[23][24] corticobasal degeneration,[25] hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and coronary artery disease.[26]

ALS diagnosis

In February 2017, Desikan was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, one of the Neurodegenerative Diseases that has been the focus of his research. His battle with the disease, both personal and scientific,[27] was featured in the Washington Post,[4] in a cover story by reporter Laurie McGinley. Unable to speak, walk or use his hands, Desikan continues to pursue research and has published more than 25 papers since his diagnosis.[28][29] His recent work focuses on development of a cardiovascular PHS for Alzheimer's disease and characterizing the genetic architecture of ALS.[28][29] The ALS Association featured his unique story and groundbreaking work in a 2018 article.[30] Boston University's Bostonia magazine featured Desikan in a 2018 article.[31] Desikan's story was also featured as a cover story on American Broadcasting Company's Good Morning America on Friday, November 23, 2018.[32][33] He died on July 14, 2019, two and a half years after being diagnosed with a rapidly-progressive form of ALS.[34]

Music

Desikan was an amateur musician and DJ. Even after the ALS diagnosis, Desikan created and recorded mixes, mainly using Native Instrument's Traktor software, with a motion capture system attached to himself. Desikan's mixes and live recordings are published on his SoundCloud page under an alias Rahul Quila.[35]

Awards
  • 2011 Top Cited Article from 2006 to 2010, NeuroImage
  • 2012 Cornelius G. Dyke Memorial Award[36]
  • 2016 Boerger Research Fund for Alzheimer’s Disease and Neurocognitive Disorders[37]
  • 2016–2017 Junior Investigator Award, National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center[38]
  • 2017 Outstanding Fellow / Clinical Instructor Teaching Award, UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging[39]
  • 2017–2019 Alzheimer's Neuroimaging Award, ASNR Foundation[40]

References
  1. "Rahul Desikan | UCSF Profiles". profiles.ucsf.edu. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  2. "Laboratory for Precision Neuroimaging". Laboratory for Precision Neuroimaging at UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
  3. "Neuroimaging RIG". UCSF Radiology. May 8, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  4. McGinley, Laurie. "Devastated by ALS, trying to save others". The Washington Post.
  5. "Rahul Desikan's Quest to Find Out What Causes ALS | Bostonia | BU Alumni Magazine". www.bu.edu. Retrieved November 9, 2018.
  6. Desikan, Rahul. "I'm a scientist studying brain illnesses. Now I'm a lock-in, living with one of them: Lou Gehrig's disease". The Washington Post.
  7. Desikan, Rahul. "Genetic research may hold promise for ALS, Alzheimer's". San Francisco Chronicle.
  8. Desikan, Rahul. "How Well Can a Genetic Test Predict Your Future Health?". Scientific American.
  9. Desikan, Rahul S.; Ségonne, Florent; Fischl, Bruce; Quinn, Brian T.; Dickerson, Bradford C.; Blacker, Deborah; Buckner, Randy L.; Dale, Anders M.; Maguire, R. Paul; Hyman, Bradley T.; Albert, Marilyn S.; Killiany, Ronald J. (July 1, 2006). "An automated labeling system for subdividing the human cerebral cortex on MRI scans into gyral based regions of interest". NeuroImage. 31 (3): 968–980. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.01.021. ISSN 1053-8119. PMID 16530430. S2CID 12420386.
  10. "UCSF Researcher Identifies Risk Genes for ALS". UC San Francisco. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  11. Fischl, Bruce; Salat, David H.; Busa, Evelina; Albert, Marilyn; Dieterich, Megan; Haselgrove, Christian; Van Der Kouwe, Andre; Killiany, Ron; Kennedy, David; Klaveness, Shuna; Montillo, Albert; Makris, Nikos; Rosen, Bruce; Dale, Anders M. (2002). "Whole Brain Segmentation". Neuron. 33 (3): 341–55. doi:10.1016/S0896-6273(02)00569-X. PMID 11832223. S2CID 9629554.
  12. "Tau-associated MAPT gene increases risk for Alzheimer's disease". ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 3, 2018.
  13. Desikan, Rahul S.; McEvoy, Linda K.; Thompson, Wesley K.; et al. (Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative) (2012). "Amyloid-β – associated clinical decline occurs only in the presence of elevated P-tau". Archives of Neurology. 69 (6): 709–13. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2011.3354. PMC 3423526. PMID 22529247.
  14. "New Alzheimer's test can predict age when disease will appear". The Guardian. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  15. "Soon a gene test may predict the age at which you may be at risk of Alzheimer's". Hindustan Times. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
  16. Desikan, Rahul S.; Fan, Chun Chieh; Wang, Yunpeng; Schork, Andrew J.; Cabral, Howard J.; Cupples, L. Adrienne; Thompson, Wesley K.; Besser, Lilah; Kukull, Walter A.; Holland, Dominic; Chen, Chi-Hua; Brewer, James B.; Karow, David S.; Kauppi, Karolina; Witoelar, Aree; Karch, Celeste M.; Bonham, Luke W.; Yokoyama, Jennifer S.; Rosen, Howard J.; Miller, Bruce L.; Dillon, William P.; Wilson, David M.; Hess, Christopher P.; Pericak-Vance, Margaret; Haines, Jonathan L.; Farrer, Lindsay A.; Mayeux, Richard; Hardy, John; Goate, Alison M.; et al. (2017). "Genetic assessment of age-associated Alzheimer disease risk: Development and validation of a polygenic hazard score". PLOS Medicine. 14 (3): e1002258. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002258. PMC 5360219. PMID 28323831.
  17. "New Test Helps People Predict When They May Get Alzheimer's Disease". The Independent.
  18. Salat, D. H. (March 28, 2004). "Thinning of the Cerebral Cortex in Aging". Cerebral Cortex. 14 (7): 721–730. doi:10.1093/cercor/bhh032. ISSN 1460-2199. PMID 15054051.
  19. "Personalized Alzheimer's disease risk from your genomic data". Dash Genomics. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  20. Andreassen, O. A.; Djurovic, S; Thompson, W. K.; Schork, A. J.; Kendler, K. S.; O'Donovan, M. C.; Rujescu, D; Werge, T; Van De Bunt, M; Morris, A. P.; McCarthy, M. I.; International Consortium for Blood Pressure GWAS; Diabetes Genetics Replication Meta-analysis Consortium; Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Schizophrenia Working Group; Roddey, J. C.; McEvoy, L. K.; Desikan, R. S.; Dale, A. M. (2013). "Improved detection of common variants associated with schizophrenia by leveraging pleiotropy with Cardiovascular disease|cardiovascular-disease risk factors". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 92 (2): 197–209. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2013.01.001. PMC 3567279. PMID 23375658.
  21. Andreassen, Ole A.; Thompson, Wesley K.; Schork, Andrew J.; Ripke, Stephan; Mattingsdal, Morten; Kelsoe, John R.; Kendler, Kenneth S.; O'Donovan, Michael C.; Rujescu, Dan; Werge, Thomas; Sklar, Pamela; Roddey, J. Cooper; Chen, Chi-Hua; McEvoy, Linda; Desikan, Rahul S.; Djurovic, Srdjan; Dale, Anders M. (2013). "Improved Detection of Common Variants Associated with Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder Using Pleiotropy-Informed Conditional False Discovery Rate". PLOS Genetics. 9 (4): e1003455. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1003455. PMC 3636100. PMID 23637625.
  22. Desikan, R. S.; Schork, A. J.; Wang, Y.; Thompson, W. K.; Dehghan, A.; Ridker, P. M.; Chasman, D. I.; McEvoy, L. K.; Holland, D.; Chen, C.-H.; Karow, D. S.; Brewer, J. B.; Hess, C. P.; Williams, J.; Sims, R.; O'Donovan, M. C.; Choi, S. H.; Bis, J. C.; Ikram, M. A.; Gudnason, V.; Destefano, A. L.; Van Der Lee, S. J.; Psaty, B. M.; Van Duijn, C. M.; Launer, L.; Seshadri, S.; Pericak-Vance, M. A.; Mayeux, R.; Haines, J. L.; et al. (2015). "Polygenic Overlap Between C-Reactive Protein, Plasma Lipids, and Alzheimer Disease". Circulation. 131 (23): 2061–2069. doi:10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.115.015489. PMC 4677995. PMID 25862742.
  23. Ferrari, Raffaele; Wang, Yunpeng; Vandrovcova, Jana; Guelfi, Sebastian; Witeolar, Aree; Karch, Celeste M; Schork, Andrew J; Fan, Chun C; Brewer, James B; Momeni, Parastoo; Schellenberg, Gerard D; Dillon, William P; Sugrue, Leo P; Hess, Christopher P; Yokoyama, Jennifer S; Bonham, Luke W; Rabinovici, Gil D; Miller, Bruce L; Andreassen, Ole A; Dale, Anders M; Hardy, John; Desikan, Rahul S (2017). "Genetic architecture of sporadic frontotemporal dementia and overlap with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases". Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry. 88 (2): 152–164. doi:10.1136/jnnp-2016-314411. PMC 5237405. PMID 27899424.
  24. "Establishing a Link Between Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) and Immune Dysfunction". UCSF Radiology. January 11, 2018. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  25. Yokoyama, Jennifer S.; Karch, Celeste M.; Fan, Chun C.; Bonham, Luke W.; Kouri, Naomi; Ross, Owen A.; Rademakers, Rosa; Kim, Jungsu; Wang, Yunpeng; Höglinger, Günter U.; Müller, Ulrich; Ferrari, Raffaele; Hardy, John; Momeni, Parastoo; Sugrue, Leo P.; Hess, Christopher P.; James Barkovich, A.; Boxer, Adam L.; Seeley, William W.; Rabinovici, Gil D.; Rosen, Howard J.; Miller, Bruce L.; Schmansky, Nicholas J.; Fischl, Bruce; Hyman, Bradley T.; Dickson, Dennis W.; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; Andreassen, Ole A.; Dale, Anders M.; Desikan, Rahul S. (2017). "Shared genetic risk between corticobasal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy, and frontotemporal dementia". Acta Neuropathologica. 133 (5): 825–837. doi:10.1007/s00401-017-1693-y. PMC 5429027. PMID 28271184.
  26. Leblanc, Marissa; Zuber, Verena; Andreassen, Bettina Kulle; Witoelar, Aree; Zeng, Lingyao; Bettella, Francesco; Wang, Yunpeng; McEvoy, Linda K.; Thompson, Wesley K.; Schork, Andrew J.; Reppe, Sjur; Barrett-Connor, Elizabeth; Ligthart, Symen; Dehghan, Abbas; Gautvik, Kaare M.; Nelson, Christopher P.; Schunkert, Heribert; Samani, Nilesh J.; Ridker, Paul M; Chasman, Daniel I.; Aukrust, Pål; Djurovic, Srdjan; Frigessi, Arnoldo; Desikan, Rahul S.; Dale, Anders M.; Andreassen, Ole A.; Andreassen, O. A. (2016). "Identifying Novel Gene Variants in Coronary Artery Disease and Shared Genes with Several Cardiovascular Risk Factors Novelty and Significance". Circulation Research. 118 (1): 83–94. doi:10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.115.306629. PMC 5609485. PMID 26487741.
  27. "New Study Reveals Two Genes Associated with High Risk for ALS". ALS News Today.
  28. Desikan, Vasudha (June 10, 2018), Rahul UCSF Talk, retrieved August 5, 2018
  29. "Rahul Desikan – Google Scholar Citations". Google Scholar. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  30. "ALS Researcher Living With ALS Continues to Work Toward a Cure". ALS Association.
  31. "Rahul Desikan's story of love, science and facing down death". bu.
  32. "ALS researcher living with the disease still fighting for a cure". ABC News.
  33. America, Good Morning. "Scientist races to find a cure for ALS while battling the disease himself". Good Morning America. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  34. Christopher Hess "Rahul Desikan, MD, PhD (1978–2019)" UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imagery. Published July 15, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  35. "Rahul Quila". SoundCloud. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  36. "Cornelius G Dyke Memorial Award". ASNR.
  37. "Boerger Research Fund". ASNR.
  38. "Junior Investigator Award". NACC.
  39. "Outstanding Fellow/Clinical Instructor Award". UCSF.
  40. "Grant Recipients". The Foundation of the ASNR. February 11, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
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