Dr. Robert Balazs

Brief Biography:

ROBERT BALAZS
12 Stane Grove, London SW9 9AL
Date of birth:8th November 1923
Place of birth: Budapest, Hungary
Nationality:British

Marital Status:Widower; two children

Degrees: M.D. (Summa cum laude), Pázmány Péter University, Medical School, 1950, Budapest
PhD, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1955
Research Professor, St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London, 1997
Professor Emeritus, University of California, Irvine, 1996
Honorary Professor, University College of London, 2005

Societies:                     
British Biochemical Society
British Neuropathology Society
Brain Research Association
European Society for Neurochemistry
European Neuroscience Association
International Brain Research Organisation
International Society for Neurochemistry

Activities:                    
Founder member of International Society for Neurochemistry
(ISN) and International Society for Developmental
Neuroscience (ISDN).
Served on the Council of Brain Research Association,ESN, ISDN and ISN

Was Director of the Nutrition Programme of the International Brain Research Organisation, President of the ISDN, and Served on the Nominating- and the Publication Committee of the ISN.

Was on the Editorial Board of Brain Research, Journal of Neurochemistry, Journal of Mental Developmental Research, Neurochemistry International, International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, Neurobiology, NeuroReport (Neurochemistry section editor)

Academic positions:

Posts Held:1948-1952: Institute of Medical Chemistry, Medical School,
Budapest - Demonstrator
1952-1954: Ibid, - Aspirant
1954-1956: - Physiological Laboratory of the Hungarian

Airforce
1957: Whitchurch Hospital, Cardiff - Rockefeller Grant
1958-1972: MRC Neuropsychiatry Unit (Cardiff and Carshalton) - Scientific Officer
1972-1975: MRC Neuropsychiatry Unit, Carshalton -Acting Director
1975-1987: MRC Developmental Neurobiology Unit, Institute of Neurology, London - Director
1987-1994: Netherlands Institute for Brain Research,Amsterdam - Senior Scientist
1994-1996: Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia, University of California, Irvine - Visiting professor
1997- Department of Pharmacology, St. George’s Hospital Medical School, London - Research professor
1998-2005- Institute for Brain Aging and Dementia, University of California, Irvine - Research professor
2005-2008 - Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research, UCL, London-Honorary professor
2008- Institute of Neurology. Senior researcher

Research interests:

Neurobiology of excitatory amino acids
Trophic factors influencing the survival and maturation of neural cells

Pathomechanisms in Alzheimer’s disease:

-Effect of β-amyloid peptide on signal transduction in neurons
-Effect of proinflammatory cytokines on signal transduction in     neurons
-Epigenetic mechanisms in Alzheimer Disease (DNA methylation in brain of Alzheimer disease subjects with high homocystein level)
-Effect of exercise on signal transduction and gene expression in the CNS
-Neural cell cultures
-Biochemical characterisation of morphological structures of the brain
-Neurotransmitters in the cerebellum
-Biochemical disorders in Down’s syndrom
-Application of diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging to follow rapid changes after brain insults

Any other information:

Books Published       
-Biochemical changes during functional changes of the central nervous system. Ph.D. Thesis, Budapest, 1956
-Metabolic Compartmentation in the Brain, MacMillan, London, 1973
-Multidisciplinary Approaches to Brain Development, Elsevier/North-Holland Press, Amsterdam, 1980
-Plastic and Trophic Effects of Amino Acid Transmitters in the Developing Nervous System (Special Issue of the -InternationalJournal of Developmental Neuroscience), 1990
-Excitatory Amino Acid Transmission in Health and Disease.Oxford University Press, 2005.

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