Dr. Donato A. Di Monte

Biography

Prof. Di Monte received his Doctorate of Medicine and his residency training in Internal Medicine from the University of Bari, Italy. He completed post-doctoral research training in Biochemistry and Toxicology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and at the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. Prof. Di Monte then became an independent investigator at the Parkinson’s Institute (Sunnyvale, California) and was Director of the Institute’s Basic Research Department. He developed a successful line of research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and other governmental and private agencies. In 2010, he joined the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Bonn as a Professor and Senior Research Group Leader. He also acts as the Center’s Deputy Scientific Director. Prof. Di Monte has served as a member of numerous study sections, project steering committees and scientific advisory boards. He has authored or co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific publications. A new therapeutic approach discovered by Prof. Di Monte and his collaborators (patent # US7,718,677 B2) is presently being tested in Parkinson’s disease patients for the treatment of L-dopa-induced dyskinesias.  

Research Interest

The primary goal of our research team is to identify mechanisms of neuronal degeneration that could be targeted for the prevention and treatment of human neurodegenerative diseases. Although our research is mainly focused on Parkinson’s disease, we aim to study mechanisms (e.g. protein aggregation and inflammation) and risk factors (e.g. aging) that are shared between Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative disorders. We believe that bridging different human diseases will help us understand what makes neurons vulnerable to degenerative processes and what can be done to counteract these pathologic events.