Charalampos Tzoulis

Charalampos Tzoulis MD, PhD, is Professor of Neurology and Neurodegeneration, Director of the Neuromics Research Group (https://neuromics.org/), and Director for Neurodegeneration at the Neuro-SysMed Center of Excellence for Clinical Research in Neurological Diseases (www.neuro-sysmed.no), University of Bergen and Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway.

Clinically, he specializes in neurogenetic, movement disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. His research is dedicated to the study of brain aging and neurodegeneration, with a particular focus on Parkinson’s disease. His mission and long-term vision are to elucidate biological mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration and to design tailored neuroprotective therapies preventing and/or ameliorating the occurrence and progress of neurodegenerative disorders.

Charalampos Tzoulis was born in Athens, Greece in 1979. He received his medical degree from Albert Szent-Györgyi Medical University of Szeged, Hungary in 2003. He subsequently trained in neurology at Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway and received his PhD degree from the University of Bergen in 2010. He became full Professor of Neurology and Neurodegeneration in 2018, at the age of 38 years. Since 2019, he is the Co-Director and Director for Neurodegeneration at Neuro-SysMed, Norway’s first National Center of Excellence for Clinical Research.

About the TMS project:

Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects 1-2% of the population above the age of 65, and is a major cause of death and disability with a devastating global socioeconomic impact. In Europe alone, PD affects an estimated 1.2 million people and has a cost of €14 billion per year. Current treatments for PD are purely symptomatic and have no impact on disease progression. As a result, patients confront a future of progressive disability, early institutionalization, and premature death. Since demographic studies show that patient numbers will continue to grow, effectively doubling by 2040, our failure to make any significant impact to halt or delay disease progression means that PD is now a major challenge to health care and society.

The overarching goal of Prof. Tzoulis’ TMS project was to elucidate mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of PD at the molecular level, and to utilize this knowledge to identify biomarkers for more precise diagnosis, and therapeutic targets. Working towards this goal, Tzoulis and his team have generated an integrated multi-omics map of the PD-brain – both in bulk-tissue and at single-cell resolution – combining genomics with epigenomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. Using this unique database, they have explored single-layer as well as integrated multi-omic signatures of PD.

Tzoulis and his team have discovered novel molecular pathways associated with PD and identified for the first time a molecular subtype of idiopathic PD, which will contribute towards personalized therapy. Moreover, their work has identified nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) metabolism as a key pathway in PD and other neurodegenerative diseases, and nominated NAD-replenishment therapy as a potential neuroprotective therapy against PD, other parkinsonisms, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and other neurodegenerative disorders. These findings have motivated multiple national and international clinical trials currently running under Prof. Tzoulis’ supervision, to explore the potential of NAD-replenishment therapy against neurodegeneration.