Team Barker
Aging and the Heterogeneity of Parkinson’s disease - The role of heterochromatin erosion
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PD Heterogeneity
The PD Heterogeneity theme explores the mechanisms behind different manifestations of PD, unpacking variability in disease onset, symptoms, and progression rates. Sub-areas of investigation target the roles of aging, co-pathologies, environmental risk factors, and cellular clearance mechanisms, as well as exploration of factors influencing alpha-synuclein seeding and the neural circuitry behind symptom presentation. By understanding these diverse drivers of disease, this theme aims to propel the field beyond “one-size-fits-all” treatments toward precision medicine tailored to specific patient subtypes.
Our Teams
The focus across these teams will be to explore the mechanisms behind different manifestations of Parkinson’s disease with the goal of moving toward precision medicine tailored to specific patient subtypes.
Aging
Explore aging-related changes to the immune system and genes, and their role in vulnerability to Parkinson’s disease.
Team Keller
MOMA-PD: Modulate and Map Molecular Networks of Parkinson’s Disease Across Age, Sex, Brain Cell Types and Organisms
Team Krichevsky
RNA Mechanisms of Resilience and Vulnerability in Aging and Parkinson’s Disease
Team Parisiadou
Age-related RNA oxidation and ribosomal dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease vulnerable dopamine neurons
Team Tansey
Investigating the role of immune cell exhaustion (ICE) and biological immune aging (BIA) in PD risk and PD heterogeneity
Alpha-synuclein Seeding
Characterize the seeding agent driving the alpha-synuclein seeding amplification assay (SAA) — a transformative diagnostic for Parkinson’s disease. By doing so, researchers aim to decode specific disease subtypes and illuminate the systemic biological mechanisms of the disease as it manifests throughout the body.
Team Goedert
Seeded aggregation of alpha-synuclein
Team Mann
Deciphering the Aggregatome: Unraveling Alpha-Synuclein Seeding Drivers in Parkinson’s Disease across Human Biomaterials
Team Soto
Understanding alpha-synuclein seeding: Identification of cellular factors influencing seeding and structural and biological characterization of the SAA products
Team West
Decoding Alpha-Synuclein Conformational Diversity to Enable Advanced Predictive Amplification Assays
Circuit Biology
Reveal how brain circuits disrupted by pathological alpha-synuclein contribute to symptoms such as sleep disorders and cognitive dysfunction.
Team Awatramani
Defining separate rewarding and aversive dopaminergic circuits and their role in Parkinson's disease associated pain
Team Mackenzie
Defining functional heterogeneity within the subthalamic area and its relevance for psychiatric and cognitive symptoms of PD
Team Nelson
The Pedunculopontine Nucleus in Sleep and Cognitive Features of Parkinson’s Disease
Team Root
Ventral tegmental area dopamine neuron subtype-specific roles in Parkinson's disease-related cognitive symptoms
Team Sharott
Defining the neural mechanisms underlying heterogeneity in sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances in Parkinson’s disease
Clearance
Study the brain’s clearance mechanisms to define how these mechanisms’ breakdown contributes to Parkinson’s and uncover new therapeutics.
Team Jensen
Investigate the impact of Parkinson’s disease lysosomal risk variants on lysosomal function and alpha-synuclein clearance across CNS cell types
Team Lashuel
Investigating the role of Neuron-Glia crosstalk in regulating alpha-synuclein pathology formation and clearance in a novel triculture model of Lewy Body maturation and neurodegeneration
Team Muqit
Mitochondrial surface as a neuroprotective signal integrator in PD
Team Pfeffer
Convergent Mechanisms of LRRK2 and GBA in PD: vulnerability of lysosomes and neuroprotective ciliary signaling
Team Strittmatter
CLEAR-PD: Clearance via Lymphatics & Endocytic Alpha-Synuclein Receptors in Parkinson’s Disease
Co-pathology
Understand co-pathologies by investigating how multiple protein abnormalities commonly associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and ALS, including tau, amyloid-beta, and TDP-43, interact with Parkinson’s pathology to drive disease in individual patients.
Team Doxakis
Decoding co-pathological mechanisms in Parkinson's disease: from molecular interactions to disease progression
Team Halliday
A Global Brainbank to Identify Data-Driven Molecular and Cellular Subtyping Underlying Disease Initiation and Progression in Lewy Body Diseases
Team Petrucelli
Identifying and Investigating Molecular Modifiers of Co-Pathologies in Parkinson’s Disease
Environment
Map environmental risk by studying how exposure to pesticides and air pollution interact with genetics to cause and accelerate Parkinson’s disease, using tools like AI-driven molecular fingerprinting.
Team Bronstein
Environmental & Genetic Determinants of Parkinson’s Disease Progression
Team Greenamyre
Environmental exposures and PD heterogeneity: Mechanisms and therapeutic mitigation.
Team Khurana
Molecular, cellular and clinical fingerprinting of established pesticide toxicants in three PD cohorts.
Team Kirkeby
Connecting the environmental exposome to PD risk and disease pathology
