Charmaine Lang's Inaugural Fellowship Paves Path for Enhanced Human Models in Parkinson's Drug Development

Heartfelt congratulations go out to Kavli INsD's Dr. Charmaine Lang, DPAG Departmental Research Lecturer, on receiving the first-ever jointly funded Senior Research Fellowship from Parkinson’s UK and Rosetrees Trust.

With this award, Charmaine will explore the interaction between dopamine neurons and astrocytes in the brain and its failure in the context of Parkinson's through the development of complex new induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models.

The current limitations in iPSCs, which are the best human models available, lie in the lack of interaction with other cell types. Charmaine aims to fill this gap by creating sophisticated iPSC models that more accurately represent the interactions of live cells in the human brain. This will help identify better drugs and reduce failures in the clinical trials process.

The fellowship also provides Dr. Lang with the opportunity to start her first independent post and build her own research team. 

Charmaine commented for her fellowship as: “I am so grateful to both Parkinson’s UK and Rosetrees Trust for supporting early career researchers and for selecting me to be the recipient of this Fellowship. I am excited to use this opportunity to begin my independent journey, build my team and to expand on the techniques and expertise I have developed thus far. I am very lucky to have received a wealth of support and guidance from funders, colleagues within DPAG and the Kavli Institute and the patients within the Oxford branch of the Parkinson’s UK network. I look forward to the journey ahead and to giving back to the Parkinson’s patient community.”