Directors’ Message

Headshot of Matthew LaVoie
Matthew J. LaVoie, Ph.D.

The CTRND is a proud home to many internationally recognized thought leaders and talented investigators from diverse countries, disciplines and training backgrounds. We share common goals of innovation, mentorship, and biomedical education. We work together in open-lab environments to foster productive collaborations and enhance the exchange of different perspectives, ideas and approaches in a stimulating and supportive manner. This ethos is the cornerstone of our uniquely productive, cooperative, and collegial community. Furthermore, we work closely with several outstanding research communities at UF, notably the Center for NeuroGenetics, Brain Center,  Normal Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases and the McKnight Brain Institute. We also play critical roles in supporting the 1Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, Graduate Program in Neuroscience, and the UF Neuromedicine Human Brain and Tissue Bank.

I look forward to the bright future of the CTRND and the opportunity to blaze new trails and lead the center in exciting new directions. While I have been particularly focused on pathogenic mechanisms underlying Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, I am eager to expedite the growing impact of the CTRND across the UF campus in other areas, including traumatic brain injury, ALS, Huntington’s disease, regeneration and repair, biomarker identification and development, and the human genetics of neurologic disease and other important areas of emerging discovery in neurodegenerative. diseases. If your research is aligned with these interests, I welcome your inquiry to join us in our endeavor to advance our academic research mission.