Professor Heather Mortiboys
PhD
Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Population Health
Head of Neuroscience
Professor of Cellular Neuroscience and Metabolism
+44 114 222 2259
Full contact details
Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Population Health
Room B50
葫芦影业 Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN)
385a Glossop Road
葫芦影业
S10 2HQ
- Profile
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I was awarded my PhD from the International Max Planck PhD Program in Dresden Germany in 2006 with the grade summa cum laude; this project focused on the 鈥業nfluence of mitochondrial energy metabolism on cellular function: implications for neurometabolic and neurodegenerative diseases.鈥
After which I worked in the Neurology department at the University Hospital Dresden as a research associate on an EU funded project investigating Co-enzyme Q deficiency in patient tissue.
I joined the Neuroscience department at the University of 葫芦影业 in 2006 to set up mitochondrial investigations in models of Parkinson鈥檚 Disease working as a postdoctoral research associate with Prof. Oliver Bandmann.
I started my own lab when I became a Parkinson鈥檚 UK Senior Research Fellow in September 2013 based within the 葫芦影业 Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN).
- Research interests
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The main focus of my lab is mitochondria in neurodegenerative diseases, primarily focused on Parkinson鈥檚 Disease. This encompasses mitochondrial function, DNA, morphology and recycling as well as links with other cellular pathways.
My research focuses on both trying to further the understanding of the causes of mitochondrial problems in neurodegenerative conditions and in vitro drug screening for molecules which rescue mitochondrial function in patient tissue.
The lab has also recently become interested in investigating these mitochondrial abnormalities in Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease and Motor Neuron Disease patient derived cells. It is interesting to investigate the differing mitochondrial phenotypes between neurodegenerative diseases and the mechanisms by which they occur and potentially drive neuronal vulnerability.
Current projects
- Targeting mitochondrial dysfunction with novel small molecules in Parkinson鈥檚 Disease and Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease
- Repurposing of compounds for the treatment of Parkinson鈥檚 Disease
- LRRK2 and mitochondria 鈥 what is the connection?
- Differing types of mitophagy in neurons and astrocytes
- Targeting mitophagy with small molecules in Parkinson鈥檚 Disease
- Mitochondrial morphological abnormalities in patient derived models of Alzheimer鈥檚 Disease
- What are the metabolic abnormalities in Motor Neuron Disease
- Publications
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Journal articles
- . Life Science Alliance, 7(9), e202402853-e202402853.
- . Biochemical Journal, 481(4), 265-278.
- . Heliyon, 10(3), e24975-e24975.
- . Alzheimer's & Dementia, 19(S13).
- . Brain, awad364.
- . Journal of Parkinson's Disease, 13(6), 851-864.
- . Journal of Parkinson's Disease, 13(6), 1011-1033.
- . Disease Models & Mechanisms, 16(6).
- . The EMBO Journal.
- . Aging Cell.
- . Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 93(9), e2.2-e2.2.
- . Life Science Alliance, 5(2).
- . Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 429, 119412.
- . Molecular Psychiatry.
- . Bio-protocol, 11(1).
- . Aging Cell.
- . Alzheimer's & Dementia, 16(S6).
- . International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21(23).
- . Scientific Reports, 10(1).
- . Life Science Alliance, 3(8).
- . Journal of Personalized Medicine, 10(2).
- . Neurology, 94(15_supplement).
- . Progress in Neurobiology, 187.
- . Brain, 1-20.
- . Brain Research, 1706, 218-223.
- . Journal of Molecular Biology, 430(21), 3942-3953.
- . Neuroscience, 390, 46-59.
- . Biochemical Society Transactions, 46(4), 891-909.
- . FEBS Letters, 592(5), 776-792.
- . Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 88(Suppl 1), A31.4-A32.
- . Alzheimer's & Dementia, 13(7S_Part_26), P1269-P1269.
- . Curr Med Chem.
- . European Journal of Neuroscience, 45(4), 528-535.
- . Neurology, 88(2), 131-142.
- . Biochemical Society Transactions, 44(6), 1617-1623.
- . Neuroscience Letters, 630, 23-29.
- . Human Molecular Genetics, 24(23), 6640-6652.
- . Pharmacological Research, 100, 24-35.
- . Neurology, 85(10), 846-852.
- . PLoS Genetics, 10(11).
- . Diabetes, 63(12), 4314-4325.
- . Neurology, 82(10_supplement).
- . Neurology, 82(10_supplement).
- . Neuromuscular Disorders, 24, S15-S15.
- . Neurobiol Aging, 35(6), 1499-1509.
- . Brain, 136(Pt 10), 3038-3050.
- . Ann Neurol, 74(6), 837-847.
- . Plos One, 6(8), e68256-e68256.
- . Neurology, 75(22), 2017-2020.
- . J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry, 81(11), e59.
- A PINK1 Mutant Zebrafish Model of Early Onset Parkinson's Disease. MOVEMENT DISORD, 25, S631-S631.
- . PLoS One, 5(3), e9872.
- . Nature Neuroscience, 12(9), 1129-1135.
- . Brain, 132(Pt 6), 1613-1623.
- . Mitochondrion, 9(1), 63-63.
- . Ann Neurol, 64(5), 555-565.
- . J Neurochem, 105(5), 2013-2028.
- Mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson's disease--revisited.. Neurol Neurochir Pol, 41(2), 150-159.
- . Aktuelle Neurologie, 33(S 1).
- . Molecular Psychiatry.
- Co-aggregation with Apolipoprotein E modulates the function of Amyloid-尾 in Alzheimer's disease. Nature Communications.
- . Aging Cell.
- . Nature Communications, 14(1).
- . Aging Biology, 1(1), 20230010-20230010.
- . Brain.
- . Biomolecules, 13(1), 76-76.
- . Cellular Reprogramming.
- . European Journal of Neuroscience.
- . Aktuelle Neurologie, 32(S 4).
- The common PARK8 mutation LRRK2 G2019S is not a risk factor for breast cancer in the absence of Parkinson's disease.. Journal of Neurology.
- Magnetic resonance spectroscopy reveals mitochondrial dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Brain.
- . Biomedicines, 9(1), 63-63.
Chapters
Conference proceedings papers
- . I: Experimental therapeutics 鈥 preclinical (pp A152.1-A152)
- Treatment Selection in Multi-Arm Multi-Stage Clinical Trials in Parkinson Disease: The Search for the Ideal Neuroprotective Drug. MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Vol. 37 (pp S329-S329)
- Multimodal mechanistic disease stratification in sporadic Parkinson's disease. MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Vol. 37 (pp S113-S113)
- Developing 31-phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS) as an imaging biomarker to identify mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Vol. 36 (pp S370-S371)
- (31)Phosphorus Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy as a Tool to Identify Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease In-Vivo. ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, Vol. 90 (pp S152-S153)
- Do deficits in Mitochondrial Spare Respiratory Capacity contribute to Neuropsychological changes seen in Alzheimer's disease?. NEUROLOGY, Vol. 94(15)
- Acid sphingomyelinase deficiency rescues mitochondrial dysfunction in gba-/- zebrafish (Danio rerio). MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Vol. 33 (pp S615-S615)
- Inhibition of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) rescues dopaminergic neurons in pink1-/- zebrafish. MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Vol. 31 (pp S209-S209)
- Identifying novel pharmacological drugs to eliminate pathogenic heteroplasmic mtDNA by using a novel quantitative assay of mitophagy. NEUROMUSCULAR DISORDERS, Vol. 26 (pp S21-S21)
- . Neuromuscular Disorders, Vol. 25 (pp S185-S186)
- Mitochondrial Impairment in Manifesting LRRK2-G2019S Carriers. NEUROLOGY, Vol. 74(9) (pp A255-A255)
- Complex I deficiency and dopaminergic neuronal cell loss in parkin-deficient zebrafish (Danio rerio). MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Vol. 24 (pp S135-S135)
- Abnormal mitochondrial function and morphology in fibroblasts of patients with early onset Parkinson's disease and two parkin mutations. NEUROLOGY, Vol. 70(11) (pp A485-A485)
- Mitochondrial function and morphology in parkin mutant fibroblasts. MOVEMENT DISORDERS, Vol. 23(1) (pp S49-S49)
Datasets
Preprints
- , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- , Research Square Platform LLC.
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- Research group
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Postdoctoral Research Associates
- Dr Francesco Capriglia
- Dr Naomi Hartopp
- Dr Alex Bury
- Dr Rachel Hughes
- Dr Katy Barnes
- Dr Orlaith O'Shaughnessy
- Dr Elezebeth Stephen
Research Assistants
- Nikolaos Stefanadis
- Ella Simmonite
PhD students
- James Lee
- Toby Burgess
- Louise Heywood
- Alicja Olejnik
- Rhiannon Brown
- Grants
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My research is currently funded by Parkinson鈥檚 UK Virtual Biotech, Cue Parkinson's, several industrial partners including Verge Genomics, NZP UK Ltd and Spark Therapeutics, and the Michael J Fox Foundation.
- Teaching activities
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I teach on the MSc courses in Translational Neuroscience, Translational Neuropathology, Clinical Neurology and Molecular Medicine focussing on protein assay work and basic cell biology assays, the pathogenetic mechanisms involved in Parkinson鈥檚 Disease and critical review of the literature teaching.
I also teach on the undergraduate Biomedical Science course on the module the Biological Basis of Brain Disease.
I enjoy training and supervising MSc and BMedSci students during their research projectsand usually host 2-3 students per year. In addition we host multiple medical students from the MBChB course for short projects per year.
- Professional activities and memberships
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I am a member of the Parkinson鈥檚 UK college of experts as well as the Patient Public Involvement Steering Group. I also sit on the Cure Parkinson鈥檚 Trust Review Panel.
I am lead external examiner for MRes courses at University of Newcastle. I regularly review for several funding bodies including MRC, Parkinson鈥檚 UK, BBSRC, Motor Neuron Disease Association, EU, ARUK and many others.
- Collaborators
Within 葫芦影业: Dr Laura Ferraiuolo, Prof Oliver Bandmann, Prof Kurt De Vos, Dr Suman De and Prof Val Gillet
Outside of 葫芦影业: Prof Sylvie Urbe (University of Liverpool), Prof Mike Clague (University of Liverpool), Dr Liz New (University of Sydney), Prof Joanna Poulton (University of Oxford), Dr Alex Whitworth (University of Cambridge)