Robert G. Thorne, PhD, Denali Therapeutics & University of Minnesota, USA
Editorial Board Member
Find publications in PubMed
The focus of Dr. Thorne’s research has been to develop a mechanistic understanding of drug delivery to the brain. One of his main interests has been the study of diffusive and convective transport within the extracellular and perivascular spaces of the central nervous system – his research in the field spanning over three decades has consistently aimed to leverage knowledge of physiology, CNS structure, and the blood-brain and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barriers with a variety of methods, in order to identify how best to deliver peptides, proteins, oligonucleotides, and gene therapy vectors to the brain following intraparenchymal, intrathecal, intranasal, and/or systemic administration. His more recent work at Denali Therapeutics has focused on novel blood-brain barrier transport vehicles facilitating the brain delivery of disease-modifying antibody or enzyme drugs and adeno-associated virus-based vectors for CNS gene therapy. Dr. Thorne’s Denali research seeks to enable new first-in-class CNS treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, lysosomal storage disorders, and brain cancers underpinned by genetics, biology, and biomarker-based approaches. He is extensively involved in both preclinical and clinical research.