George Perry is a third-generation descendant of the Azores, Portugal. His grandparents moved to United States looking for a better life. This Portuguese descendent knows Portugal and goes to the country often,
either for vacations or working specifically with his colleagues to understand Alzheimer’s disease. He published thousands of articles
related to neuroscience, and how Alzheimer develops. It is a very complex topic, so let’s see what George Perry has to say regarding
this issue.
He starts the interview saying that all four of his grandparents immigrated from the Azores placing him as third generation per the US Census. At this moment he is studying Alzheimer’s disease (AD). AD is responsible for the most common age related loss of cognitive function leading to years of disability.
In studies of the protein structural changes of AD “I discovered that many of the abnormal features of AD are a result of oxidative stress.” Years of work and method development revealed neurons in AD demonstrate oxidative damage to proteins, fats, sugars and nucleic acids. Damage is met with protection; his research group demonstrated every known protective anti-oxidant response. In later studies “we identified the pathological lesions of AD are antioxidant responses that actually reduce oxidative damage.” He hypothesized 25 years ago that removing amyloid or tau proteins will not benefit patients, because “you are removing a protective biological response, consistent with the marginal benefit of numerous clinical trials of amyloid removal.” Says George Perry.
Their current work is directed to understanding the mechanism of amyloid’s antioxidant activity. Amyloid’s binding of metals prevents the metals from catalyzing oxidative damage. They further discovered amyloid contains metallic iron and copper, the first time ever identified in the human body and “requiring us to rewrite amyloid’s role in AD.” These studies are based on human biology, where every insult is matched with an opposing response through a process called homeostasis.
Our research has resulted in over 1000 publications and numerous students and fellows trained, including three from the University of Coimbra in Portugal. To promote novel ideas in AD research, “I founded the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (JAD), now the most prolific and cited journal in the AD field. Paula Moreira of the University of Coimbra is co-editor of JAD.”
Another focus is mentoring the next generation by educating college students to set them on the correct track and administration to guide and support faculty. “I was chair of Pathology at Case Western Reserve University and Dean of Sciences at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). He is current Semmes Foundation Distinguished University Chair in Neurobiology at UTSA and hold scientific advisory positions with numerous biotechnology companies.”
As a child growing up in coastal California at Point Conception he developed a love of the diversity of life in the sea. As far as he can think back, he recalls collecting and studying life forms. “It was only natural for me to study marine biology at the University of California Santa Barbara (BA, high honors) and later a PhD at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (UCSD), Hopkins Marine Station (Stanford) and Woods Hole. Postdoctoral studies at Baylor College of Medicine prepared him to apply biological concepts to medicine in his faculty position at Case Western Reserve University.
It is often lost on medicine that “we are subject to the same biology as every organism that must survive and reproduce. “My research has focused on oxidative stress and metabolism in aging and its essential role in Alzheimer and related neurodegenerative diseases.” His studies were the first to identify oxidative stress in Alzheimer disease and were a direct result of my research on sea urchin eggs and oxidative stress at fertilization. “Neurobiology chose me due to the opportunities it offered to improve human health.”
How do you know Portugal?
Since the early 1990’s he has visited Portugal over 30 times including 4 trips to the Azores and from the northern border to the Algarve. His paternal grandparents migrated from Santa Maria Island, Azores to Massachusetts, USA in 1900-1902 and in 1905 moved to California. Maternal grandparents were from Pico Island, Azores and migrated directly to California through Massachusetts in 1920. His ancestors worked as farmers in coastal central California.
What places do you know, and what places would you like to know?
North to South and to five of the Azorean Islands “I have traveled in Portugal. Coimbra, Aveiro and Lisbon are known best through “my work with the University of Coimbra, University of Aveiro, Santa Casa da Misericórdia, Conselho da Diáspora Portuguesa, Academia das Ciências de Lisboa and Fundaçao para a Ciência e a Technologia”. In the Azores he met many of his relatives leading him to trace his ancestry back to the immigration from mainland Portugal to the Azores. Among those ancestors were the first settlers of the Azores. “I plan to continue to travel to more of the historic sites in Portugal and the Azores.”
Have you ever been discriminate in USA because your portugueses anscestors?
Azorean-Portuguese in California assimilate into US society while observing festas and other traditions. Part of this assimilation was anglicizing names, so José Chaves Pereira became Joseph Perry and Lourenço Jorge became Lawrence George. Although assimilated, the cultural values of hard work and financial independence ruled with education being less valued reflected in a lower educational attainment than other groups from the Old World.
