Biography
Dr Laura Parkkinen is Professor of Translational Neuropathology at the University of Oxford, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, and Director of the Oxford Brain Bank. With over 20 years’ experience, she focuses on Parkinson’s disease (PD) and and related dementias, including dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). She completed her PhD in Neuropathology at the University of Kuopio in 2005 and held postdoctoral positions at Barcelona (2007), UCL (2008-2010) and Oxford (2010-2015). Since then she has led the Neuropathology program at the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre and, in 2015, founded her own Translational Neuropathology group, applying molecular and protein chemistry techniques to human post mortem brain and peripheral tissues to study mechanisms, drug targets and biomarkers for PD and DLB. Prof Parkkinen is leader in next-generation of translational neuropathologists, with expertise in pathomics (digital pathology and AI-driven algorithms), spatial transcriptomics and proteomics. Her group pioneered the seed amplification assay for α-synuclein in CSF, shifting Parkinson’s diagnostics from the clinical to the molecular era. She has worked in four major European brain banks, providing expertise in tissue governance, processing and diagnostics, and contributed to European consensus initiatives standardising neuropathological practice. Prof Parkkinen holds several leadership roles reflecting her reputation in the field, including Chair of the Peer Review Panel for the Parkinson’s UK-MS Brain Bank, Neuropathology Committee Member of the Movement Disorder Society, and advisory roles with Parkinson’s UK, the World Parkinson Coalition, Synuclein scientific meeting and others.