Dario Alessi and Miratul Muqit together with Stanford University researchers Suzanne Pfeffer and Monther Abu-Remaileh have been awarded a prestigious grant from the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative to further understanding of how LRRK2 is linked to Parkinson’s disease. They will receive $9 million dollars over the next 3 years and join an international network of ASAP-funded teams to accelerate new knowledge in Parkinson’s disease towards the development of new therapies.
A particular emphasis of the ASAP initiative will be collaboration between teams and open science to drive progress. Miratul Muqit and Dario Alessi have shared lab space since 2008 and Dario Alessi has been collaborating with Suzanne Pfeffer since 2015. Monther Abu-Remaileh brings critical new expertise in lysosome biology to the team. The goal of our project is to better understand how the LRRK2 pathway is regulated by Rab29, VPS35 and PPM1H phosphatase. We will also investigate the consequences of how phosphorylated Rabs impact on ciliogenesis, lysosome and mitochondrial function.
Dario Alessi, said: “This is an opportunity of a lifetime as a Parkinson’s disease researcher. It will enable Dundee researchers to be part of one of the biggest initiatives in history to accelerate understanding of the origins of Parkinson’s disease, embracing high quality and fully open and interdisciplinary collaboration. It is also a major step towards our goal of creating a leading Parkinson’s Research Centre at the University of Dundee. This ASAP-initiative award will enable us recruit talented researchers to Dundee”.
Miratul Muqit said “I am delighted to join the ASAP network and am looking forward to working with Dario and colleagues at Stanford and beyond to make fundamental breakthroughs into how LRRK2 regulates mitochondrial function and how this may be linked other Parkinson’s pathways. Parkinson’s has been a challenging disease to find treatments and I believe that this exciting collaborative initiative offers the best chance of achieving this”.
To apply for postdoctoral positions to join the MRC PPU ASAP team please click here