Lang Group

Parkinson’s research is centralised on the idea of finding ways to understand dopamine neuron degeneration and to prevent their loss. While much research is focused on dopamine neurons themselves, it is important to note that they do not exist alone in the human brain and receive and require many signals and molecules for support and function from other cell types, most importantly astrocytes & other glial cell types. However, due to the complexities of modelling the human brain for research, the exact mechanisms of communication between neurons & glia in the human brain and whether these signals are supportive or destructive in neurodegeneration is poorly understood.

The focus of the group's research involves developing simple co-culture & complex microfluidic co-culture methods of human induced-pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons & glia to understand communication between these cell types in health and neurodegenerative disease. The ultimate aim being, to understand whether a lack of glial support or active destruction is contributing to neuronal loss in neurodegeneration and to find ways in which we can boost or inhibit these signals to therapeutically to promote neuron survival.