Grant: Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

The Parkinson's disease-linked protein, LRRK2, has been linked by our lab and others, to an important role in innate immune response. Mutations in this protein can cause differential affects in the ability to fight pathogens. In our lab, we have begun to demonstrate that LRRK2 may be protecting the brain from infection primarily in the body-specific immune responses, rather than in the brain-specific immune responses. This would give important implication in the onset of Parkinson's disease if the disease-linked protein primarily has a function in the body rather than the brain. In three specific mouse-model experiments, we will investigate the role of Lrrk2 in the peripheral-specific and the brain-specific immune responses to determine where Lrrk2 is playing the biggest role. This will help identify the role of Lrrk2, and also where is best to target the protein in therapeutic approaches. We will use drug inhibitors, different viral and bacterial infections, and cellular signalling investigations to examine clearly the role of this protein. Through these distinct experiments, the role of LRRK2 in the immune system will be delineated between peripheral immune responses and brain-specific immune responses. This will provide insight into the origin and pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. If we are correct, this will then inform potential new therapeutic targets (such as anti-inflammatory medication) and will directly inform ongoing clinical trials involving LRRK2-targetted drug therapies.