Luke Fischer, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor
Neurology
School of Medicine

He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Michigan State University with degrees in Philosophy and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, and he remained there to complete his PhD in Neuroscience in the laboratory of Dr. Caryl E. Sortwell as part of a dual-MD/PhD program. As a trainee in the NINDS Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease Research at Michigan State University, his focus was on the use of deep brain stimulation in rodent models of Parkinson's disease to investigate its potential as a neuroprotective therapy. He remained in her laboratory as a postdoctoral fellow to examine the impact of common genetic variants on clinical outcomes for developing precision medicine approaches for treating patients with Parkinson's disease. Dr. Fischer completed his neurology residency at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he was elected to AOA and served as Chief Resident. As a NINDS R25 resident trainee in the laboratory of Dr. Laura Volpicelli-Daley, he applied confocal and expansion microscopy techniques to human postmortem brain samples to examine co-pathology. Dr. Fischer then completed a clinical Fellowship in Behavioral Neurology at the University of California, San Francisco Memory and Aging Center and remained there for his NINDS UE5 research fellowship in neuropathology in the laboratory of Dr. Lea Grinberg.

Dr. Fischer is a member of the Neurodegenerative Disease Brain Bank, and he sees patients in the Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center.

• Clinicopathological correlation of cerebrospinal fluid alpha-synuclein seed amplification assay in a behavioral neurology autopsy cohort.
  Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 2024 Samudra N, Fischer DL, Lenio S, Lario Lago A, Ljubenkov PA, Rojas JC, Seeley WW, Spina S, Staffaroni AM, Tablante J, Wekselman F, Lamoureux J, Concha-Marambio L, Grinberg LT, Boxer AL, VandeVrede L
• A Precision Medicine Approach to Dementia Care: Syndrome, Etiology, and Copathology.
  Practical neurology (Fort Washington, Pa.) 2023 Fischer DL, Seeley WW
• BDNF rs10501087, rs1491850 and rs11030094 polymorphisms associated with delayed progression in early-stage Parkinson's disease.
  Frontiers in neurology 2022 Fischer DL, Auinger P, Goudreau JL, Paumier KL, Cole-Strauss A, Kemp CJ, Lipton JW, Sortwell CE
• BDNF rs6265 Genotype Influences Outcomes of Pharmacotherapy and Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation in Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease.
  Neuromodulation : journal of the International Neuromodulation Society 2022 Sortwell CE, Hacker ML, Fischer DL, Konrad PE, Davis TL, Neimat JS, Wang L, Song Y, Mattingly ZR, Cole-Strauss A, Lipton JW, Charles PD
• BDNF rs6265 Variant Alters Outcomes with Levodopa in Early-Stage Parkinson's Disease.
  Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics 2020 Fischer DL, Auinger P, Goudreau JL, Cole-Strauss A, Kieburtz K, Elm JJ, Hacker ML, Charles PD, Lipton JW, Pickut BA, Sortwell CE
• The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism (rs6265) enhances dopamine neuron graft efficacy and side-effect liability in rs6265 knock-in rats.
  Neurobiology of disease 2020 Mercado NM, Stancati JA, Sortwell CE, Mueller RL, Boezwinkle SA, Duffy MF, Fischer DL, Sandoval IM, Manfredsson FP, Collier TJ, Steece-Collier K
• External Ventricular Drain Placement Accuracy and Safety When Done by Midlevel Practitioners.
  Neurosurgery 2019 Ellens NR, Fischer DL, Meldau JE, Schroeder BA, Patra SE
• BDNF provides many routes toward STN DBS-mediated disease modification.
  Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society 2018 Fischer DL, Sortwell CE
• Quality Over Quantity: Advantages of Using Alpha-Synuclein Preformed Fibril Triggered Synucleinopathy to Model Idiopathic Parkinson's Disease.
  Frontiers in neuroscience 2018 Duffy MF, Collier TJ, Patterson JR, Kemp CJ, Fischer DL, Stoll AC, Sortwell CE
• Correction to: Lewy body-like alpha-synuclein inclusions trigger reactive microgliosis prior to nigral degeneration.
  Journal of neuroinflammation 2018 Duffy MF, Collier TJ, Patterson JR, Kemp CJ, Luk KC, Tansey MG, Paumier KL, Kanaan NM, Fischer DL, Polinski NK, Barth OL, Howe JW, Vaikath NN, Majbour NK, El-Agnaf OMA, Sortwell CE
• Bdnf variant is associated with milder motor symptom severity in early-stage Parkinson's disease.
  Parkinsonism & related disorders 2018 Fischer DL, Auinger P, Goudreau JL, Paumier KL, Cole-Strauss A, Kemp CJ, Lipton JW, Sortwell CE
• Lewy body-like alpha-synuclein inclusions trigger reactive microgliosis prior to nigral degeneration.
  Journal of neuroinflammation 2018 Duffy MF, Collier TJ, Patterson JR, Kemp CJ, Luk KC, Tansey MG, Paumier KL, Kanaan NM, Fischer DL, Polinski NK, Barth OL, Howe JW, Vaikath NN, Majbour NK, El-Agnaf OMA, Sortwell CE
• Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation Does Not Modify the Functional Deficits or Axonopathy Induced by Nigrostriatal α-Synuclein Overexpression.
  Scientific reports 2017 Fischer DL, Manfredsson FP, Kemp CJ, Cole-Strauss A, Lipton JW, Duffy MF, Polinski NK, Steece-Collier K, Collier TJ, Gombash SE, Buhlinger DJ, Sortwell CE
• Can STN DBS protect both nigral somata and innervation of the striatum?
  Annals of neurology 2017 Fischer DL, Manfredsson FP, Sortwell CE
• Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation Employs trkB Signaling for Neuroprotection and Functional Restoration.
  The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience 2017 Fischer DL, Kemp CJ, Cole-Strauss A, Polinski NK, Paumier KL, Lipton JW, Steece-Collier K, Collier TJ, Buhlinger DJ, Sortwell CE
• Alpha-Synuclein mRNA Is Not Increased in Sporadic PD and Alpha-Synuclein Accumulation Does Not Block GDNF Signaling in Parkinson's Disease and Disease Models.
  Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy 2017 Su X, Fischer DL, Li X, Bankiewicz K, Sortwell CE, Federoff HJ
• Impact of age and vector construct on striatal and nigral transgene expression.
  Molecular therapy. Methods & clinical development 2016 Polinski NK, Manfredsson FP, Benskey MJ, Fischer DL, Kemp CJ, Steece-Collier K, Sandoval IM, Paumier KL, Sortwell CE
• Viral Vector-Based Modeling of Neurodegenerative Disorders: Parkinson's Disease.
  Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) 2016 Fischer DL, Gombash SE, Kemp CJ, Manfredsson FP, Polinski NK, Duffy MF, Sortwell CE
• High-Frequency Stimulation of the Rat Entopeduncular Nucleus Does Not Provide Functional or Morphological Neuroprotection from 6-Hydroxydopamine.
  PloS one 2015 Fischer DL, Collier TJ, Cole-Strauss A, Wohlgenant SL, Lipton JW, Steece-Collier K, Manfredsson FP, Kemp CJ, Sortwell CE
• Neuroprotective potential of pleiotrophin overexpression in the striatonigral pathway compared with overexpression in both the striatonigral and nigrostriatal pathways.
  Gene therapy 2014 Gombash SE, Manfredsson FP, Mandel RJ, Collier TJ, Fischer DL, Kemp CJ, Kuhn NM, Wohlgenant SL, Fleming SM, Sortwell CE