Pedro Gonzalez-Alegre, MD
Assistant Professor, Movement Disorders
Address
e-mail: pedro-gonzalez-alegre@uiowa.edu
Lab Website
The Gonzalez Laboratory
Clinical Specialty
- Movement Disorders
- Inherited Dystonias
- Neurogenetic Disorders
Research Interest
- Biological basis of basal ganglia diseases, especially dystonia.
- Molecular basis of neurodegeneration
- Role of AAA proteins in neurological disease
Education
- M.D. University of Malaga Medical School, Málaga (Spain)
Residency
- (Neurology) University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA
- (Internship) Saint Vincent Hospital, Worcester, MA
Fellowship
- Movement Disorders, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA
Certification
- 1997 Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates
- 2002 Iowa Board of Medical Examiners
- 2002 Iowa Controlled Substance DEA
- 2003 American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology
Honors and Awards
- 1996: Introduction to Research Scholarship (CSIC-Superior Council for Research, Spain)
- 2001-2002: Co-Chief Resident. Department of Neurology. University of Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA
- 2002-2004: Menkes/Markham Fellow (Dystonia Medical Research Foundation)
- 2003: S. Weir Mitchell Award (American Academy of Neurology)
- 2004: Junior Award for Excellence in Basic Science Research, 8th International Congress of Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders, Rome (Italy)
Professional Service:
- 2006-present: Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Spastic Paraplegia Foundation
- 2006-present: Member, Medical and Scientific Advisory Council, Dystonia Medical Research Foundation
- Ad Hoc Reviewer:
- Human Molecular Genetics
- Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology
- The Journal of the Neurological Sciences
- Journal of Gene Medicine
- Journal of Neuroscience
- Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology
- Neurology
- Emergency Medicine Journal
- European Journal of Neuroscience
- Life Sciences
Professional Affiliations
- American Academy of Neurology
- Movement Disorder Society
- Society for Neurosciences
- American Neurological Association
Publications
Gonzalez-Alegre P, Ruiz-Lopez AD, Abarca-Costalago M, Gonzalez-Santos P. Increment of the platelet count in temporal arteritis: response to therapy and ischemic complications. Eur Neurol 2001;45(1):43-45.
Bonansco C, González de la Vega A , González-Alegre P, Borde M, García-Segura LM and Buño W. Tetanic stimulation of Schaffer collaterals induces rhythmic bursts via NMDA receptor activation in rat CA1 pyramidal neurons. Hippocampus 2002;12:434-446
Gonzalez-Alegre P, Ammache Z, Davis PH, Rodnitzky R. Moyamoya-induced paroxysmal dyskinesia. Mov Disord 2003;18(9):1051-1056.
Gonzalez-Alegre P, Miller VM, Davidson B, Paulson H. Toward therapy for DYT1 dystonia: Allele-specific silencing of mutant torsinA. Annals of Neurology 2003;53:781-787.
Gonzalez-Alegre P, Paulson HL. Aberrant cellular behavior of mutant TorsinA implicates nuclear envelope dysfunction in DYT1 dystonia. J Neuroscience 2004;24(11):2593-2601.
Gonzalez-Alegre P, Bode N, Davidson BL, Paulson HP. Silencing primary dystonia: lentiviral-mediated RNA interference therapy for DYT1. J Neuroscience 2005;25: 10502-10509.
Gonzalez-Alegre P, Kelkar P, Rodnitzky RL. Isolated high frequency jaw tremor relieved by botulinum toxin injections. Mov Disord 2006;21(7):1049-50.
Gonzalez-Alegre P, Afifi AK. Clinical Characteristics of Childhood-Onset (Juvenile) Huntington's Disease. Report of twelve patients and review of the literature. J Child Neurol 2006;21(3):223-229.
Gonzalez-Alegre P. Therapeutic RNA interference for neurodegenerative diseases: from promise to progress. Pharmacol Ther 2007;114(1):34-55.
Gonzalez-Alegre P, Paulson HP. Technology insight: therapeutic RNA interference--how far from the neurology clinic? Nat Clin Pract Neurol 2007;3(7):394-404.
Gonzalez-Alegre P. The inherited dystonias. Semin Neurol 2007;27(2):151-8.
Gordon KL, Gonzalez-Alegre P. Consequences of the DYT1 mutation on torsinA oligomerization and degradation. Neuroscience 2008; 157:588-595. PMCID: PMC2605671
Martin JN, Bair TB, Bode N, Dauer WT, Gonzalez-Alegre P. Transcriptional and proteomic profiling in a cellular model of DYT1 dystonia. Neuroscience (2009) 164(2):563-72. NIHMS137987
Bassuk AG, Wallace RH, Buhr A, Buller A, Shimojo M, Miyata S, Chen S, Gonzalez-Alegre P, Griesbach HL, Shu W, Nashelsky M, Vladar EK, Antic D, Ferguson PJ, Cirak S, Voit T, Scott MP, Axelrod JD, Gurnett G, Daoud AS, Afawi Z, Neufeld MY, Korczyn AD, Kivity S, Mazarib A, Straussberg R, Walid S, Slusarski DC, Berkovic SF, El-Shanti HI. A homozygous mutation in human PRICKLE1 causes an autosomal-recessive progressive myoclonus epilepsy-ataxia syndrome. Am J Human Genet 2008;83(5):572-81
Harlow T, Gonzalez-Alegre P. High prevalence of reported tremor in Klinefelter syndrome. Parkinsonism & Relat Disord 2009;15(5):393-5
Page ME, Bao L, Andre P, Pelta-Heller J, Gonzalez-Alegre P, Bogush A, Khan LE, Iacovitti L. Rice ME, Ehrlich ME. Cell-autonomous alteration of dopaminergic transmission by wild type and mutant (DE) TorsinA in transgenic mice. Neurobiology of Disease 2010;39:318-326.
Gordon KL, Glenn KA, Gonzalez-Alegre P. Exploring the influence of torsinA expression on protein quality control. Neurochem Research 2011;36(3):452-9
Martin JN, Wolken N, Brown T, Dauer WT, Ehrlich ME, Gonzalez-Alegre P. Lethal toxicity caused by expression of shRNA in the mouse striatum: implications for therapeutic design. Gene Therapy (in press)