Dr. Jordi Bové Badell

I received a Pharmacy degree from the University of Barcelona in 1998. In 2003, I got a PhD in Pharmacy (Neurobiology) with cum laude distinction from the same university at the Experimental Neurology Laboratory, Neurological Service of Hospital Clínic de Barcelona-IDIBAPS (Dr. C. Marin/Prof. E. Tolosa). My doctoral thesis shed light on the mechanism of levodopa-induced motor fluctuations in Parkinson's disease. I later joined the laboratory of Dr. Serge Przedborski at Columbia University (New York, USA) as a post-doctoral researcher (2003-2005), working on animal modeling and the role of alpha-synuclein in Parkinson's disease. In 2006 I co-founded the Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Group at Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) in the Vall d’Hebron Hospital Campus (Barcelona) with its leader Dr. Miquel Vila. In 2011, I obtained a position as a Miguel Servet Investigator (Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spain) as a Researcher in the National System of Health, and since then I am one of the principal investigators of the group. The research that I am leading is aimed to elucidate the mechanism of neuron cell death and to determine new therapeutic targets to develop neuroprotective strategies for Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. I am also interested in establishing presymptomatic biomarkers of Parkinson´s disease. I am currently focused on the role of the adaptive immune system in Parkinson’s disease. Our latest published study suggests that a cytotoxic attack induced by CD8 T lymphocytes initiates the disease.