Daria A. Zamolodchikov

Presented by Sidney Strickland

A.B., Princeton University

A New Role for b-Amyloid in Alzheimer’s Disease: Initiation of Thrombotic and Inflammatory Processes via Coagulation Factor XII and Fibrinogen

Let’s consider American Pharoah. It takes intelligence, speed, endurance, and heart to become a Triple Crown winner. How is that relevant to my remarks? These are attributes that Dasha Zamolodchikov has in abundance.

Dasha has a thoroughbred lineage—three of four grandparents and both parents were scientists. Born in Moscow, she came to the U.S. when she was six. Her precollege education was in New Jersey, France, and back in Russia, making her trilingual at an early age. She was fast out of the gate at Princeton, and had an extraordinary college career.

In our lab, Dasha worked on the relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and the blood circulation. She wondered if the reason that some Alzheimer’s disease patients show increased blood clotting was activation of a coagulation system. Using previous knowledge coupled with her creative ideas, she demonstrated this system is indeed activated in Alzheimer’s disease patient plasma. Its activation by restricting blood flow in the brain and causing inflammation could help explain the cognitive decline seen in Alzheimer’s disease. The work has possibilities for a new diagnostic test and new therapeutic approaches. Since Alzheimer’s is a looming medical crisis, novel insights such as these provided by Dasha are desperately needed.

Like winning a horse race, pursuit of this work required intelligence, endurance, and heart. Nothing new is easily accepted, and Dasha had to persevere in the face of entrenched skepticism. But persevere she did, and the work had a happy landing as an outstanding publication, capping off a stunning graduate career. As one tribute to her abilities, the Regeneron company awarded her second prize in a worldwide contest for the most creative graduate students. The company was so impressed, they issued her a standing invitation for a job, and she will take them up on their offer in the fall.

Dasha is multidimensional to an amazing degree. She is a superb pianist, rock climber, ski racer, and in keeping with the theme of this talk, horseback rider. It was while rock climbing that she met an impressive Italian man who shared her enthusiasms and now shares her life. She of course then needed to add Italian to her language repertoire, which has made her quadrilingual. And she’ll soon have to learn yet another language—baby talk—since she and Andrea have great expectations for a new addition in July.

Dasha has been a remarkable student. Her desk is close to my office, and many mornings my first conversation was with her. Incredibly knowledgeable, creative, lively, interactive, and fun, these conversations have been a joy to me. She and her dear friend seated on the stage, Anna Kruyer, with their boundless enthusiasm and energy, have helped create a wonderful atmosphere in our lab.

There are great things ahead for Dasha. My prediction? That she’ll be the equivalent of the first winner of the quadruple crown.