Principal Investigator: Dr. Jacob Raber

I received my B.Sc. in chemistry and M.Sc. in pharmacochemistry from the Free University of Amsterdam, and my Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics and Virology from the Weizmann Institute of Science. I received further training under the guidance of Floyd Bloom at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla and Lennart Mucke at the Gladstone Institutes and UCSF in San Francisco. In 2001, I was recruited to Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. I am a professor in the Departments of Behavioral Neuroscience, Neurology, Psychiatry, and Radiation Medicine and an affiliate scientist in the division of Neuroscience at the ONPRC and a Courtesy Professor in the College of Pharmacy at Oregon State University. I was an Ellison Medical Foundation New Scholar in Aging from 2002-2006. My research is devoted to characterizing effects of environmental and genetic factors on brain function, identifying of affected pathways, and developing treatments to antagonize detrimental effects. As environmental factors, the focus is on irradiation, a high-fat diet, stress, second-hand smoke, and related behavioral and cognitive changes. For the genetic factors, the focus is on isoform-dependent effects of apolipoprotein E. The three major human apoE isoforms (E2, E3, and E4) differ in their risk to develop cognitive impairments with age and following various environmental challenges.

Exploring ideas, learning something new, and improving physical and mental quality of life under health and disease conditions motivated my career choice. Outside of work, my greatest passions are family, music, movies, photography, and exploring the outdoors.