Project description:
Parkinson’s disease (PD) has undergone the fastest growth in prevalence and disability among neurological disorders, being characterized by a complex pathobiology at cellular and molecular level, allied to neurovascular unit (NVU) intricacy. To date, the gold standard for PD study are still animal models of the disease, urging the need for the development of novel and robust human-based microphysiological systems (MPS) in the field.
MISSION aims to establish two new human MPS brain models of PD combining dopaminergic and inflammatory stimuli, better emulating disease pathobiology and cell-cell interactions. To achieve this, we will implement and characterize a two-compartment NVU MPS model of PD as well as more complex three-compartment NVU MPS model of PD.
Our main objective will be to study the complex crosstalk mechanisms underlying chronic diseases, such as PD, by enhancing the excellence and resources in MPS in our team, by expanding international collaborations, and by boosting scientists training and mobility.
In the end, we foresee that such MPS will better recapitulate in vivo brain microenvironment and PD phenotype. They will allow a deeper understanding of disease complexity and test compounds, as a proof of concept for other more relevant cell sources for the future such as patient-derived iPSC.