Alexandra Nelson, MD, PhD
Alexandra Nelson, MD, PhD, is a systems neuroscientist and movement disorders neurologist. Her research is focused on the cellular and circuit bases of motor control, and in particular how these go awry in the context of movement disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease and dyskinesias. She is known for her expertise in ex vivo (slice) and in vivo electrophysiology, as well as her use of optogenetics and other cell type-specific tools. She has made contributions to our understanding of the cellular and circuit mechanisms of motor learning, as well as the function of basal ganglia microcircuits. In the context of disease, her laboratory has identified key basal ganglia physiological correlates of disease symptoms and effective therapies (such as dopamine replacement therapy and deep brain stimulation) in mouse models of Parkinson’s disease.
James Surmeier, PhD
D. James Surmeier, PhD, is the Nathan Smith Davis Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. He studied mathematics as an undergraduate at the University of Idaho and received his PhD in Physiology and Biophysics at the University of Washington. He pioneered the use of advanced electrophysiological, optical, and molecular approaches to unravel the roles of dopamine and acetylcholine in modulating the striatal circuitry implicated in Parkinson’s disease. These studies have yielded fundamental insights into how striatal circuits adapt to the disease and how they contribute to side-effects of symptomatic treatment. In addition, Dr. Surmeier’s group has made a significant contribution to our understanding of how the physiology of dopaminergic neurons leads to the mitochondrial oxidant stress implicated in Parkinson’s disease pathogenesis. These studies have served as a foundation for large-scale clinical trials aimed at slowing Parkinson’s disease progression.
Lucy Jobbins
Lucy is a Project Manager based in the Sharott Group at the University of Oxford. Lucy has worked in neurodegenerative disease research for over 8-years, starting out in NHS memory clinics. She has a BSc in Psychology from the University of Kent and an MSc in Neuroscience from the University of Sussex. She worked as a Research Assistant on a large dementia risk cohort study, the Heart-Brain Study at the University of Oxford. She then went on to complete a PhD in sleep and circadian rhythm disruption in dementia risk at the University of Oxford, where she conducted home-based polysomnography testing in healthy participants and people with MCI. Lucy is dedicated to ensuring lived experiences shape research and research outreach, and was awarded the Good Citizen Award for Patient and Public Engagement by the Oxford Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging.
YuHong Fu, PhD
YuHong is a senior research fellow at the Brain and Mind Center of the University of Sydney, specializing in human neuropathology and the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative disease. She brings advanced histopathology expertise and extensive experience analyzing postmortem human and rodent brain tissue. Her research focuses on selective neuronal vulnerability and glial pathogenic pathways in synucleinopathies.
