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Research
Leading research in neurology
Who is Dr. Khurana?
Vik Khurana M.D. Ph.D. is the inaugural incumbent of the Tracy T. Batchelor Endowed Chair in Neurology at MassGeneral Brigham, Chief of the Movement Disorders Division at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. He holds faculty appointments at the Ann Romney Center of Neurologic Diseases, Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He is a faculty mentor in the Harvard Neuroscience and Biological and Biomedical Science Ph.D. programs. Dr Khurana obtained his medical degree from the University of Sydney, Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University, neurology training at MassGeneral Brigham and postdoctoral training at the Whitehead Institute.
Achievements and research projects
Within MGB, Dr. Khurana leads:
Harvard Biomarkers Study (HBS 2.0): one of the largest longitudinal studies on biomarkers and natural history of patients with neurodegenerative diseases globally;
Precision Medicine Program (MyTrial);
American Parkinson's Disease Association (APDA) Center for Advanced Research;
Center of Excellence for Multiple Systemic Atrophy (MSA).
He is a member of the scientific advisory boards of the New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF), APDA, and Mission MSA, and has co-founded two biotechnology companies focused on developing therapies for neurodegenerative diseases.
The Khurana lab has pioneered the field of “systems cell biology” (stem cell biology, genomics, and high-throughput cell analysis) to understand the diversity of presentations and outcomes of neurodegenerative diseases (“patient heterogeneity”) and ultimately to develop precision medicine. The lab focuses on “synucleinopathies”: degenerative movement disorders related to the aggregation of the protein alpha-synuclein (aSyn) in the brain (Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, MSA). Thus, they have identified:
characteristic pathologies of aSyn in patients' stem cells (Science 2013);
links between genetic and environmental risk factors and aSyn aggregation (Cell Systems/Cell 2017, Nature Comm 2023);
new targets for small molecules and genetic interventions (Nedd4 activators: Science 2013; SCD inhibitors: Cell Reports 2018; ATN1 ASOs);
a role of aSyn in regulating gene expression (Cell 2022);
methods that allow rapid development of aSyn pathologies in patients' stem cells (Neuron 2024).
These approaches are now being applied to other neurodegenerative disorders.
Dr. Khurana is a former Fulbright Scholar, NYSCF Robertson Stem Cell Investigator, ANA Derek Denny-Brown Neurology Fellow, APDA Cotzias Fellow, and investigator in the Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) program.