Ying (Ivonna) Fan and Esther Sammler from the Alessi lab just returned from a visit to Professor Tolosa’s group based at the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain where they collected clinical samples from LRRK2 mutation carriers, idiopathic Parkinson’s patients and controls. Professor Tolosa’s team is part of the Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF) Parkinson’s Progression Marker Initiative and looks after a relatively large number of individuals with LRRK2 mutations. Thanks to their help in recruiting participants for our study, in particular thanks to Dr. Alicia Garrido and Dr. Maria Jose Marti, Ivonna and Esther have collected a large number of samples. This is a critical step forward in assessing LRRK2 pathway activity in human peripheral blood samples.

The photos show at the top: Dr. Christina Simonet, Dr. M. José Martí, Esther Sammler, Professor Eduardo Tolosa, Dr. Alicia Garrido. Right: Ying (Ivonna) Fan. Bottom: Donina Obiang (research nurse), Esther Sammler, Dr. Alicia Garrido.