The first lecture was given by Professor Helene Plun-Favreau (Professor of Cellular Neurodegeneration) on ” Between the devil & the deep blue sea: a career journey from cancer to neurodegeneration”
After a PhD in France (Angers University) in signal transduction, Professor Plun-Favreau did her postdoctoral work with Professor Julian Downward at CRUK. The discoveries and work she did in this area led her towards neurodegeneration and she was successful in being appointed to an MRC Career Development Fellowship to work in the Department of Molecular Neuroscience at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. Since her arrival in 2007 Helene has carried out some significant work on the molecular pathways associated with mitophagy and other mitochondrial dysfunctions in neurodegenerative disorders. The approaches they have undertaken require live cell microscopy and complex molecular and cellular biology, and provide a more complete picture of the pathways that play a role in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration.
Professor Plun-Favreau was followed by Professor Pietro Fratta (Professor of Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience) who gave a lecture on “From muscle to spinal cord, trekking up the motor unit”
Introductions and closing remarks were given by Professor Gipi Schiavo, IoN Deputy Director for Strategy. Votes of thanks were given by Professor Sarah Tabrizi, Joint Head of Dept of Neurodegenerative Disease, and Professor Gipi Schiavo respectively.
Links
- Professor Plun-Favreau’s academic profile
- Professor Fratta’s academic profile
- Recording of inaugural lectures
- Previous inaugural lectures
Image: Professor Linda Greensmith, Professor Gipi Schiavo, Professor Helene Plun-Favreau, Professor Pietro Fratta, Professor Sarah Tabrizi