Dr. Frank Longo's research group is focused on the discovery of cellular signaling mechanisms that serve as a basis for the development of novel therapeutic approaches for Alzheimer’'s disease, Huntington’'s disease and other neurological disorders. In the Neurotrophin Program, they have pioneered the development of small molecule ligands targeted to neurotrophin receptors to promote novel signaling mechanisms. Small molecule-induced activation of these mechanisms demonstrates therapeutic efficacy in models of Alzheimer’'s disease, Huntington'’s disease, Parkinson’'s disease, spinal cord injury, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), HIV dementia, and other areas. These novel compounds also promote neurogenesis from stem cells.

At Stanford, Dr. Longo serves as the George E. and Lucy Becker Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences and along with his colleagues focuses on building programs in neurology and the neurosciences. His interests include translational research in neurodegenerative disease therapeutics, providing patient care in the Stanford Memory Disorders Clinic, and mentoring medical students and other trainees. Dr. Longo is the 2015 recipient of the inaugural Melvin R. Goodes Prize for Excellence in Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery from the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, and his team’s work on Alzheimer’s therapeutics was featured on the cover of Time Magazine in 2016.