Doctoral Candidate Position 10 - Anacalypsis Therapeutics, Athens, Greece
Novel drug screening models and companion biomarkers of LRRK2-Parkinson's Disease
Martha Teneketzi earned her Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences in 2020 at the University of Brighton, followed by a Master of Research in Ageing, Stress, and Chronic Disease in 2021, For her thesis, she investigated the effect of urinary tract infections on the integrity and function of murine blood-brain barrier epithelial cells. She then pursued a second Master's degree in Neuroscience at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, graduating in 2024. During her research internships, she investigated the association between glucocerebrosidase dysfunction and disease progression in post-mortem brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease. Additionally, she investigated the expression of choline acetyltransferase and astrocyte markers (glial fibrillary acidic protein) in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (nbM) in a post-mortem cohort of depressed, bipolar, and suicidal individuals, aiming to understand the involvement of nbM pathology to cognitive impairment in neuropsychiatric disorders. Martha has developed a broad methodological skillset spanning microbiology, biochemistry, tissue culture, and histological tissue processing. As a PhD candidate at ATx, her research will combine biochemistry, microscopy, and behavioural assessments to advance LRRK2-based therapeutic strategies for PD and to develop novel biomarker assays for patient stratification and target engagement.
LinkedIn: Martha Teneketzi
Description of project
Detecting Parkinson's disease (PD) early and developing effective treatments are high unmet medical needs that must be addressed simultaneously. This project implements a patient-centric approach to developing biomarkers that can identify Parkinson's disease in its early stages and innovative treatments that can modify the disease course. To achieve this, we are using a unique combination of protein biochemistry and drug screening to develop novel types of LRRK2 inhibitors (e.g. small molecules and stapled peptide protein-protein interaction inhibitors. This project aims to 1) advance the development of novel in vitro and in vivo preclinical PD models, 2) screen novel LRRK2-based drug candidates for efficacy and toxicity in our PD models, and 3) develop novel single and multi-plex companion biomarker tools for patient stratification and pharmacodynamic measures of drug target engagement. An industrial doctorate gives the doctoral candidate the opportunity to step outside academia and develop skills in industry and business by being jointly supervised by academic and non-academic organisations. The doctoral candidate will work closely with other members of the consortium to achieve the research and training objectives.