Richard Wade-Martins, MA, DPhil, is a molecular geneticist with extensive and long-standing research programs in molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease, with a focus on Parkinson’s disease working on SNCA, MAPT, LRRK2 and GBA. Previous, highly cited work from his group uncovered the genetic basis of regulation of alternative splicing at the MAPT locus, the role of alpha-synuclein in regulating dopamine release, and a key role for LRRK2 in autophagy. More recently, he has focused on understanding mechanisms of Parkinson’s using cellular phenotyping, phenotypic drug screens and transcriptomic profiling of patient induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived dopamine neurons, and characterising highly physiological BAC transgenic models to model Parkinson’s in an age-dependent manner.

Since 2010, he has been founding director of the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre (OPDC; www.opdc.ox.ac.uk), a highly multi-disciplinary study to exploit a depth and breadth of models to provide mechanistic rationale for identifying new drugs and therapeutic targets for Parkinson’s. Further details: https://www.dpag.ox.ac.uk/research/wade-martins-group.