The Goldberg Lab is an outstanding training environment for students, postdocs and other lab members to collectively achieve the overall research mission, which is to understand how genetic mutations cause inherited forms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The long term goal is to gain sufficient understanding of PD pathogenic mechanisms to develop and test novel therapies that can prevent the loss of dopamine-producing neurons, which underlies the major clinical symptoms of PD. There are currently no therapies proven to slow down the progression of PD. We have made important progress towards this goal by analyzing cell and animal models of PD bearing genetic mutations causally linked to familial PD, including mutations in Parkin, DJ-1, PINK1, alpha-synuclein and LRRK2. Ongoing research projects funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research include developing and testing methods to enhance mitochondrial autophagy and protect against oxidative stress and neuroinflammation to facilitate PD therapeutic development.
