For the past ten years I have been involved in research on Molecular mechanisms of Parkinson's disease (PD) and other movement disorders and also familial British dementia. Using human brain tissue at the Queen Square Brain Bank, ION, I have been investigating the Park loci proteins in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. I was the first to localise DJ-1 protein expression in human brain at tissue level and reported that the major cell type expressing DJ-1 was astroglia in cortex and nigra. In addition I demonstrated that the normal function of DJ-1 may be compromised in the PD brain (Bandopadhyay et al, Brain, 127, 803) and that it is sensitive to oxidative stress. Investigations on the functional aspects of DJ-1 protein in human brain have shown that DJ-1 protein co-localises with fibrillar tau in tauopathies and is suggestive of a chaperone-type function for DJ-1 in these diseases. My current research is to localise LRRK2 in human brain tissue using MJFox antibodies and understand the molecular basis of LRRK2 mediated neurodegeneration. Currently my research plans incorporate use of human iPS cells for studying the pathogenic basis of LRRK2 mutations. 

Recently I have also developed an interest on the pathogenic basis of frontotemporal dementias. In particular I am interested in the role of RNA granules (Stress granules and P-bodies) in disease pathogenesis.