Celebrating Women at Imperial: emerging research leaders in Brain Sciences

To celebrate Women at Imperial week, we spoke to our Edmond and Lily Safra positions in the Department of Brain Sciences.

For many, the jump from a post-doctoral researcher to an independent researcher is an intimidating one. During this transition there is an often observed gender 'drop off' where women may stop progressing into further research and academic careers.

Thanks to a generous donation from the Edmond J. Safra Foundation we’ve been able to support the appointment of three Edmond and Lily Safra fellows and one Edmond and Lily Safra lecturer, all who happen to be women.

The Edmond and Lily Safra fellowships allow exceptional candidates to establish an independent research programme in Parkinson’s and Neurodegenerative diseases. Each position includes salary support for three years as well as a research start up fund. They are ideal for early-career researchers looking to take their first steps towards research independence.

The Edmond and Lily Safra Lectureship extends the development of academic leadership in Parkinson's Disease, embedding this research focus in the faculty and helping ensure the sustainability and expansion of the research.

We spoke to three of our Edmond and Lily Safra Fellows, and our Edmond and Lily Safra lecturer to discover more about their research and what hopes they have to progress the future of dementia research.

Dr Nurun Nahar Fancy – Edmond and Lily Safra Fellow

I started my career journey after graduating from University of Dhaka majoring in Biotechnology. I then completed my PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Edinburgh, investigating post-translational regulation of autophagy in plants under stress. After a short career break, I joined Imperial College London as a bioinformatician, working on neuroinflammation. This position laid the foundation for my expertise in glial biology in neurodegenerative diseases.

As an Edmond and Lily Safra Fellow, I will focus on understanding the role of microglial senescence in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Parkinson’s (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). I am investigating whether increased expression of LRRK2, a gene associated with PD risk, drives microglial senescence. I will utilise multi-omics approaches to determine if disease associated pathology such as a-synuclein in PD, induces LRRK2 expression, leading to cellular senescence in microglia. My overall aim is to uncover pathological pathways involved in the early stage of PD and identify potential therapeutic targets​.

By uncovering how LRRK2 influences microglial senescence, my research could provide new insights into neuroinflammatory mechanisms in PD. This work may pave the way for developing LRRK2 inhibitors as senescence-modifying treatments, offering a novel therapeutic strategy. Additionally, my research will contribute to creating detailed molecular cell atlases, helping to refine our understanding of cellular dysfunction in neurodegeneration.

Dr Anna Mallach - Edmond and Lily Safra Fellow

In a way, my career actually started Imperial when I joined the Experimental Neuroscience MRes course after my undergraduate at King’s College London. For my PhD, I joined the Queen Square Institute of Neurology at UCL to further explore the role of cell-cell communication in neurodegeneration. After finishing my PhD in 2021, I moved to the UK Dementia Research Institute and worked between UCL and the Francis Crick Institute, before returning to Imperial in July 2024 as an Edmond and Lily Safra Research Fellow.

Since my PhD, I have become very interested in how cells in the brain communicate with each other and how dysfunctions of this communication can contribute to dementia. It is slowly becoming clear that the support cells of the brain are instrumental in initiating toxic communications that can lead to symptoms. My research now focusses on understanding the role of support cells in Parkinson’s disease and what communication pathways are disrupted in this disorder.

Up to 50% of patients with Parkinson’s disease end up developing dementia, which has a massive impact on their quality of life. Predicting who will develop these symptoms and when is difficult as we don’t know the underlying causes. My research is focussed on understanding these causes and in time, I am hopeful that we can predict who will develop dementia and more importantly, be able to treat it.

Dr Carola Radulescu – Edmond and Lily Safra Fellow

My research interests can be traced back to my MSc in Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience where I explored the role of the basal ganglia in action discovery and movement control. In 2013, I was awarded an ARAP Ph.D. scholarship by the Singapore Agency for Science, Technology and Research and Sheffield University. My PhD investigated the activity regulation of cortico-basal-ganglia microcircuitry, and the effects of environmental and microbiota manipulation, with a translational focus on Huntington’s Disease. In 2018, I joined the UK Dementia Research Institute at Imperial College London as a Research Associate in the group of Sam Barnes, where I investigated neuronal activity regulation mechanisms during ageing and early-stage Alzheimer’s Disease.

My research programme will investigate age-dependent mechanisms of synaptic and neural circuit vulnerability associated with PD pathology. Ageing is a major risk factor for many neurodegenerative conditions, which are often characterised by transsynaptic propagation of misfolded proteins associated with aberrant neuronal activity. Intracellular inclusions containing aggregates of α-synuclein (αSyn) are a neuropathological hallmark of synucleinopathies, including PD. My group will combine cutting-edge techniques in the latest-generation models to identify age-related changes in synaptic αSyn dynamics in vulnerable and resilient cells and circuits.

As people live longer, it is crucial to understand how ageing and environmental factors influence the development and progression of conditions like PD. With the support of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, my research findings will provide novel insights that contribute to our understanding of age-dependent mechanisms associated with PD pathology with a clear potential to identify new therapeutic targets.

Dr Cynthia Sandor – Edmond and Lily Safra Lecturer in Parkinson's Disease

I trained as a veterinary surgeon specialising in horse surgery before transitioning into research with a PhD in statistical genetics. My research journey took me from the Broad Institute, where I explored functional genomics, to Oxford, where I worked on stem cell models. At Cardiff University, I established my first research group, focusing on Parkinson’s disease heterogeneity using large-scale multi-omics and wearable sensor data.

My research focuses on disease stratification and early detection in Parkinson’s disease. We use multi-omics, wearable sensor data, and electronic health records to identify early biomarkers and predict disease progression. By understanding how Parkinson’s manifests differently across individuals, we aim to tailor treatments and clinical trials to the right patients at the right time.

Early detection and personalised treatment approaches could revolutionise how Parkinson’s disease is managed. Our work has shown that wearable technology can predict Parkinson’s disease up to seven years before clinical diagnosis, opening avenues for earlier intervention. By integrating genetics, AI-driven modelling, and digital health data, we hope to refine clinical trials, repurpose existing drugs, and develop targeted therapies that slow disease progression before irreversible damage occurs.

Learn more about the Edmond J. Safra Foundation.