Dr. Lin Lin obtained a doctorate in pharmacology from Columbia University. Her thesis project investigated the regulation of the iron-sulfur proteins in mitochondrial complex I and the molecular relationship between iron, complex I, and Parkinson's disease. She came to the University of Pittsburgh in 2001 to obtain training with Drs. Michael Zigmond and Ruth Perez in neuroscience as it relates to Parkinson's disease. Dr. Lin is examining the role of MAP kinases in the survival of dopaminergic cells after exposure to the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine. As part of these studies she is exploring the impact of normal and mutant forms of a-synuclein.