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Speaker 1: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Carsten Culmsee, Institute for Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of
Pharmacy, University of Marburg, Germany
Title of the talk: Role of Mitochondria in converging points of oxidative cell death and neuroinflammation
About Speaker: Carsten Culmsee is Professor for Clinical Pharmacy and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Marburg, Germany. His research focus is on the regulation of mitochondrial integrity and function in paradigms of programmed cell death, inflammatory processes and metabolic impairment contributing to neuronal dysfunction and death in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, in ischemic brain damage, and in psychiatric diseases. In addition to the experimental work he also leads a group of Clinical Pharmacy where he guides research in the clinic and in public pharmacies on contribution of pharmacists in drug safety and interprofessional patient care. In the seminar he will provide latest results on the role of mitochondria and metabolic regulation in paradigms of oxidative cell death and neuroinflammation with relevance to age-related disorders and longevity.
Speaker 2: Assistant Professor, Paola Perrez Pardo, Utrecht Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences | Division of PharmacologyDept of Pharmaceutical Sciences | Faculty of Science| Utrecht University
Title of the talk: Gut vibes in Parkinson’s disease: The microbiota-gut-brain axis.
Abstract: The causes of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) remain unknown, but many data indicate that neuroinflammatory responses, including activated microglia and increased cytokine expression, exacerbate dopaminergic neurons degeneration. Thus, targeting the signaling pathways responsible for (neuro)inflammation may represent a promising new therapeutic approach to preserve remaining neurons in PD patients and possibly also to extend the window of efficacy of existing symptomatic drugs. The intestinal tract and its microbiota community can be regarded as a contributing factor to the neurodegenerative processes in PD through the dysregulation of the gut-brain axis which is a bidirectional communication system between the central nervous system and the intestinal tract. Mucosal inflammation and intestinal dysfunctions are common in PD and sometimes begin decades before the onset of motor symptoms. In this talk, I will focus on the in vivo and in vitro work we perform at our group to study the contribution of the gut microbiome in PD and how microbial derived therapies might impact disease progression.