Overview

We are a clinical translational research lab investigating the variability and progression of Parkinson's disease through long-term cohort, biomarker and neuroimaging studies. Our key areas of interest are the role of the immune system and gut dysfunction where we are actively involved in clinical trials, and our work aims to inform the development of new treatments targeted to different Parkinson’s subtypes. 

Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurological disorder causing problems with slowness, rigidity of movement, and tremor. It also causes a wide-range of ‘non-motor’ symptoms including problems with memory and thinking, mood, sleep, gastrointestinal and bladder symptoms. The movement problems are largely due to a loss of dopamine-producing brain cells in the substantia nigra, and can be treated with drugs which replace dopamine. However other symptoms can be much more difficult to treat, and we have no therapies as yet to prevent cell loss and slow down the underlying progression of the disease. Our clinical studies in large cohorts of patients followed over time have established that PD is highly variable from person-to-person in terms of symptoms and rate of progression. A major focus of our research is trying to better describe this variability and understand the biological reasons for it. Our ultimate goal is to develop new treatment strategies which are targeted to particular subgroups of patients.

The immune system and inflammation in Parkinson’s 

Our work to date has suggested that immune activation may play an important role in mediating variability in PD. We have found changes in immune cell types and increased inflammatory markers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples in people with PD, as well as inflammation in the brain in PD using PET imaging and neuropathological studies. These inflammatory and immune changes are present early in the disease course, and are most pronounced in people at higher risk of rapid disease progression. We are investigating the drivers of this immune activation in PD – including proteins such as alpha-synuclein, and changes in the gut – to better understand how we can measure and target these pathways in clinical trials. Our ultimate goal is to deliver immune therapies for PD targeted to both clinical subtype and mechanism.