My chief interests are the genetic variants which contribute to nervous system function and dysfunction. Over the last few years the laboratory has contributed to the finding of a number of genes which when mutated cause Parkinson's disease and other neurological conditions. Following on from these discoveries we have built a group focused on understanding the molecular pathogenesis of PD. This involves molecular and cellular biology and live cell imaging.
One of the major challenges facing neuroscience is the genetic basis of normal and abnormal function.Over the past few years this lab and colleagues (within and outside UCL) have built a programme of research based around haplotype tagging of the human genome. Currently we are directly involved in 2 genome wide associations studies focused on two common neurological diseases (Epilepsy and PD).