Dundee and Edinburgh Parkinson’s Research Initiative: I am a Lead Clinical Investigator for this partnership between two Scottish universities. We are developing a prospective, longitudinal, integrated health and research informatics platform for Parkinson’s in the East of Scotland: Clinical Audit Research Evaluation – Parkinson’s Disease (CARE-PD). In collaboration with Dr. Esther Sammler (Dundee) and Dr. Gordon Duncan (Edinburgh), this research-ready cohort will drive research advances and clinical trials in our local population. By collaborating with researchers worldwide, we are using this real-world data to help accurately model the natural history of PD. We are part of the Rostock International Parkinson’s Disease Study (ROPAD) and PD-FRONTLINE (I am local PI for both) which will identify and treat genetic PD subtypes (GBA and LRRK2 patients). We are building on recent laboratory findings to explore the disease-modifying potential of the probiotic Bacillus Subtilis in PD (collaboration with Dr. Maria Doitsidou, Edinburgh and Prof. Guido Alves, Stavanger). I am co-Chief Investigator for the Scottish Regenerative Neurology Tissue Bank.

Sleep and circadian rhythm dysfunction in PD: My Wellcome Trust-funded fellowship uses big data from existing cohort studies to assess whether sleep and circadian disruption in healthy individuals (measured using questionnaires and activity monitors) influences brain health, both cross-sectionally (neuropsychological performance, brain imaging) and longitudinally (incident disease, brain pathology). I previously led a study to define the sleep phenotype of early PD and showed that sleep disturbances were associated with a fundamental change in patient’s hormone and clock gene profile. 

RT-QuIC as a diagnostic biomarker: In collaboration with Dr. Alison Green (Edinburgh), I am evaluating the RT-QuIC assay in a variety of biofluids for the diagnosis of synucleinopathies (including PD and Multiple System Atrophy).

Understanding PD dementia: Under the leadership of Prof. Roger Barker (Cambridge) and Prof. David Burn (Newcastle), I previously worked on a longitudinal cohort study (ICICLE-PD) which has made significant contributions to our understanding of the mechanisms and predictors of cognitive impairment in PD. I remain involved in this project, which forms part of the Dementias Platform UK.

Communication failure in PD: In collaboration with Dr. Angela Roberts (Northwestern University) and Dr. Saturnino Luz (Edinburgh), we are carrying out a project to define the causes and consequences of communication failure in PD (using home voice recordings) and how these relate to cognitive phenotype and social relationships.