Doctoral Candidate Position 6 - Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia
The immune-inflammation axis as an early diagnostic target in PD
Veronika Lerman earned her B.Sc. in Biology from Moscow State University in 2018,
where she conducted her thesis research on analytical methods for studying plant
mixtures. In 2024, she completed her M.Sc. in Medical Sciences at Tel Aviv
University under the supervision of Prof. Yankel Gabet and Dr. Anat Globerson-
Levin. Her master's project focused on the design and evaluation of long-term bone-
anabolic CAR-T cell constructs for the treatment of osteoporosis, combining
molecular cloning, mammalian cell engineering, flow cytometry, and in vivo models.
Alongside her research training, Veronika served as a teaching assistant in the
Department of Anatomy at Tel Aviv University, where she supervised practical
anatomy sessions, dissection labs, and ultrasound training for medical students. She
also mentored high-school students preparing for the Israeli Biology Olympiad,
developing specialized training in advanced biological concepts and problem-solving.
She is currently pursuing her PhD in neuroimmunology, where her scientific interests
lie at the intersection of immune regulation, neural function, and disease
mechanisms. Her work aims to understand how immune cells communicate with the
nervous system during pathology and how these interactions may be harnessed for
future therapeutic strategies.
Description of project
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with the progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain. Large body of evidence points to immune system dysfunction as an important factor in PD pathology, with damaged mitochondria contributing to immune activation and neuroinflammation. Immunological maladaptation to protein aggregates and glycolipid accumulation is obvious in PD, but it is still unclear what are the immunological traits of PD patients and which of these can be normalized following therapy.
We aim to remedy this important issue by in-depth analysis of PD patients' immunological profiles, by biochemical, immunophenotype, transcriptional, genetic and epigenetic studies, using state-of-the-art methodology including advanced flow-cytometry and cell sorting, real-time PCR for transcription and genetic polymorphism studies and CpG methylation analysis of the selected genetic loci. More specifically, this PhD project aims to identify immune and inflammatory markers in CSF and peripheral blood in previously and newly diagnosed PD patients, recruited and treated at the Clinic for Neurology, University Clinical Center of Serbia; to assess the possibility of patient stratification in terms of treatment and prognosis based on the markers; Finally, we aim to determine possible molecular targets within the immune-inflammation axis that may be suitable for the therapeutic modulation.