Techniques/Technologies driving a better understanding of disease mechanisms
Techniques/Technologies driving a better understanding of disease mechanisms
Theme: Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders
Part of the Parkinson’s UK Programme Stream
Tuesday 25th April, 15:30 – 17:10
Over the last 25 years there has been major advances in our understanding of the molecular causes of Parkinson's disease. However, there still remain some fundamental questions which prevent us fully understanding what causes Parkinson's. These include - how does misfolded alpha-synuclein cause neuronal death or are certain neuronal cell types resistant to the toxic effects of misfolded alpha-synuclein whilst in other neuronal types it causes neurodegeneration. There have been a number of recent advances in novel techniques/technologies which have the potential to advance our fundamental understanding of what causes Parkinson's and armed with this information researchers will be able to design more effective drugs to slow or halt the progression of Parkinson's. This symposium is designed to highlight a number of new techniques/technologies which can not only be applied to Parkinson research to advance knowledge but will be applicable across a range of neurological conditions.
- Caleb Webber, University of Cardiff, UK: Exploiting stem cell model heterogeneity with single cell RNAseq (co-chair)
- Tiago Outeiro, Newcastle University, UK: Extracellular vesicles: from basic biology to biomarkers
- Amanda Lewis, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland: Insights into alpha-Synuclein accumulation in human brain using correlative light and electron microscopy
- Nora Bengoa-Vergniory, Achucarro Basque Center for Neuroscience, Spain: Visualizing and tackling alpha-synuclein aggregation in Parkinson’s disease therapeutics (co-chair)