Michel Desjardins, PhD, a cell biologist interested in the characterization of cellular pathways associated with the immune system, has made important contributions to the fields of phagocytosis and antigen cross-presentation. He completed his PhD at Université de Montréal in 1991. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, he joined the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology at Université de Montréal (1994) where he is a full professor. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His current research focuses on the role of the immune system in Parkinson’s disease, exploring the proposal that autoimmune mechanisms actively drive the disease process.