Thor D. Stein, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Biography
Background:
Dr. Stein is Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Leader of the Neuropathology Core at the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. He is also staff neuropathologist at VA Boston and VA Bedford Healthcare Systems. He completed his MD/PhD training at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison and his residency and fellowship training in neuropathology at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School.
Research Interests:
His research focuses on neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). He investigates the molecular and pathological underpinnings of these conditions, particularly how trauma contributes to their onset and progression. He has published extensively on the development and modeling of age- and trauma-related neuropathologies. Some of these studies include the most comprehensive analysis to date on beta-amyloid deposition, cerebral amyloid angiopathy, Lewy body disease, and TDP-43 pathology following repetitive mild traumatic brain injury. He works on the epigenetic and gene network mechanisms involved in the development of neuropathology. Dr. Stein is the Principal Investigator on numerous grants, including VA Merit Awards on the role of traumatic brain injury in the development of AD, ALS, and CTE as well as multiple NIH R01s focused on determining the link between epigenetic modifications, lipidomic profiles, and pathological changes in the brain as they relate to cognitive decline.
Dr. Stein leads the Neuropathology Core at the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Research and CTE Center, where he oversees neuropathological analyses and diagnoses. He manages the processing, preservation, and storage of brain tissue for research studies worldwide. He is also a neuropathologist for numerous other brain banks, including Framingham Heart Study, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) National ALS Biorepository, as well as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs ALS, Gulf War Veterans Illnesses, and PTSD biorepositories.
Other Positions
- Investigator, Framingham Heart Study
- VA Boston Healthcare System
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
Websites
Education
- University of Wisconsin Madison, MD
- University of Wisconsin Madison, PhD
- University of Wisconsin Madison, BS
Publications
- Published on 2/25/2025
Alosco ML, Mejía Pérez J, Culhane JE, Shankar R, Nowinski CJ, Bureau S, Mundada N, Smith K, Amuiri A, Asken B, Groh JR, Miner A, Pettway E, Mosaheb S, Tripodis Y, Windon C, Mercier G, Stern RA, Grinberg LT, Soleimani-Meigooni DN, Christian BT, Betthauser TJ, Stein TD, McKee AC, Mathis CA, Abrahamson EE, Ikonomovic MD, Johnson SC, Mez J, La Joie R, Schonhaut D, Rabinovici GD. 18F-MK-6240 tau PET in patients at-risk for chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Mol Neurodegener. 2025 Feb 25; 20(1):23. PMID: 39994806.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/8/2025
Osterman C, Hamlin D, Suter CM, Affleck AJ, Gloss BS, Turner CP, Faull RLM, Stein TD, McKee A, Buckland ME, Curtis MA, Murray HC. Perivascular glial reactivity is a feature of phosphorylated tau lesions in chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Acta Neuropathol. 2025 Feb 08; 149(1):16. PMID: 39921702.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 2/7/2025
Yousefian-Jazi A, Kim S, Chu J, Choi SH, Nguyen PTT, Park U, Kim MG, Hwang H, Lee K, Kim Y, Hyeon SJ, Rhim H, Ryu HL, Lim G, Stein TD, Lim K, Ryu H, Lee J. Loss of MEF2C function by enhancer mutation leads to neuronal mitochondria dysfunction and motor deficits in mice. Mol Neurodegener. 2025 Feb 07; 20(1):16. PMID: 39920775.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/31/2024
Richardson TE, Orr ME, Orr TC, Rohde SK, Ehrenberg AJ, Thorn EL, Christie TD, Flores-Almazan V, Afzal R, De Sanctis C, Maldonado-Díaz C, Hiya S, Canbeldek L, Kulumani Mahadevan LS, Slocum C, Samanamud J, Clare K, Scibetta N, Yokoda RT, Koenigsberg D, Marx GA, Kauffman J, Goldstein A, Selmanovic E, Drummond E, Wisniewski T, White CL, Goate AM, Crary JF, Farrell K, Alosco ML, Mez J, McKee AC, Stein TD, Bieniek KF, Kautz TF, Daoud EV, Walker JM. Spatial proteomic differences in chronic traumatic encephalopathy, Alzheimer's disease, and primary age-related tauopathy hippocampi. Alzheimers Dement. 2025 Feb; 21(2):e14487. PMID: 39737785.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/9/2024
Heneka MT, van der Flier WM, Jessen F, Hoozemanns J, Thal DR, Boche D, Brosseron F, Teunissen C, Zetterberg H, Jacobs AH, Edison P, Ramirez A, Cruchaga C, Lambert JC, Laza AR, Sanchez-Mut JV, Fischer A, Castro-Gomez S, Stein TD, Kleineidam L, Wagner M, Neher JJ, Cunningham C, Singhrao SK, Prinz M, Glass CK, Schlachetzki JCM, Butovsky O, Kleemann K, De Jaeger PL, Scheiblich H, Brown GC, Landreth G, Moutinho M, Grutzendler J, Gomez-Nicola D, McManus RM, Andreasson K, Ising C, Karabag D, Baker DJ, Liddelow SA, Verkhratsky A, Tansey M, Monsonego A, Aigner L, Dorothée G, Nave KA, Simons M, Constantin G, Rosenzweig N, Pascual A, Petzold GC, Kipnis J, Venegas C, Colonna M, Walter J, Tenner AJ, O'Banion MK, Steinert JR, Feinstein DL, Sastre M, Bhaskar K, Hong S, Schafer DP, Golde T, Ransohoff RM, Morgan D, Breitner J, Mancuso R, Riechers SP. Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer disease. Nat Rev Immunol. 2024 Dec 09. PMID: 39653749.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/6/2024
Nicks R, Shah A, Stathas SA, Kirsch D, Horowitz SM, Saltiel N, Calderazzo SM, Butler MLMD, Cormier KA, Aytan N, Tu-Zahra F, Mathias R, Faheem F, Marcus S, Spurlock E, Fishbein L, Esnault CD, Boden A, Rosen G, Xia W, Daley S, Meng G, Martin BR, Daneshvar DH, Nowinski CJ, Alosco ML, Mez J, Tripodis Y, Huber BR, Alvarez VE, Cherry JD, McKee AC, Stein TD. Neurodegeneration in the cortical sulcus is a feature of chronic traumatic encephalopathy and associated with repetitive head impacts. Acta Neuropathol. 2024 Dec 06; 148(1):79. PMID: 39643767.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/2/2024
Abdolmohammadi B, Tuz-Zahra F, Uretsky M, Nicks R, Mosaheb S, Labonte J, Yhang E, Durape S, Martin B, Palmisano J, Nowinski C, Cherry JD, Alvarez VE, Huber BR, Dams-O'Connor K, Crary J, Dwyer B, Daneshvar DH, Goldstein LE, Au R, Katz DI, Kowall NW, Cantu RC, Stern RA, Alosco ML, Stein TD, Tripodis Y, McKee AC, Mez J. Duration of Ice Hockey Play and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. JAMA Netw Open. 2024 Dec 02; 7(12):e2449106. PMID: 39630446.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/27/2024
Uretsky M, Nair E, Burton R, Cronin SW, Rousseau D, Tuz-Zahra F, Durape S, Abdolmohammadi B, Baucom Z, Saltiel N, Shah A, Martin B, Palmisano J, Cherry JD, Daneshvar D, Dwyer B, Dams-O'Connor K, Crary J, Goldstein L, Huber B, Katz D, Kowall N, Cantu RC, Alvarez VE, Stern RA, Stein TD, Tripodis Y, McKee AC, Alosco ML, Mez J. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Family History of Mental Illness, and Aggression in Brain Donors With Repetitive Head Impact Exposure. Neurology. 2024 Dec 24; 103(12):e210056. PMID: 39602665.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/26/2024
Prasad M, Goodman D, Gutta S, Sheikh Z, Cabral HJ, Shunyakova J, Sanjiv N, Curley C, Yarala RR, Tsai L, Siegel NH, Chen X, Poulaki V, Alosco ML, Stein TD, Ness S, Subramanian ML. Associations Between Retinal Vascular Occlusions and Dementia. Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Nov 26; 12(23). PMID: 39684995.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/13/2024
Li D, Han X, Farrer LA, Stein TD, Jun GR. Transcriptome Signatures for Cognitive Resilience Among Individuals with Pathologically Confirmed Alzheimer Disease. medRxiv. 2024 Nov 13. PMID: 39606402.
Read at: PubMed
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