Dr. Hugo Vicente Miranda received a PhD in biochemistry from Lisbon University, where he investigated the role of glycation in neurodegenerative diseases. As a postdoctoral fellow at Lisbon University, he established that the addition of sugars to proteins triggers alpha-synuclein associated neurodegeneration in models of Parkinson’s disease (PD), while compounds that inhibit this glycation are neuroprotective. He also dissected the molecular mechanisms underlying the protective role of Sirtuin 2 inhibition in PD and unveiled that modification of alpha-synuclein in red-blood cells provides a potential biomarker for PD. Dr. Vicente Miranda is currently a principal investigator and invited associate professor at NOVA Medical School. He and his research team investigate the causal mechanisms underlying the association between diabetes and PD, and they recently determined that glycation aggravates motor and cognitive alterations in preclinical models. Their goal is to identify novel therapeutic targets and diagnostic tools for PD.