Webinar – In vivo preclinical models for neurodegenerative diseases

Animal models are an indispensable research tool to understand, assess and treat neurodegenerative diseases in the preclinical setting. Although rodent models are the most widely used and of immense value, non-human primate (NHP) models are particularly important in translating approaches to the clinic. In this webinar, the speakers will explain rodent models first. Then they will focus on how to generate NHP models for neurodegenerative diseases and how to characterize them, using the example of a preclinical model of Tauopathy (viral overexpression) and the validation of a new gene therapy strategy for Parkinson’s disease (MPTP model).

Dr. Marie-Christine Birling (Celphedia) & Romina Aron Badin (NeurATRIS)

Dr. Romina Aron Badin received her PhD in gene therapy and brain imaging from the University College of London in 2005. She continued her research at the Institute of Child Health, in Great Ormond Street Hospital, London as a postdoctoral fellow working in gene therapy in rodent models of stroke. She then pursued her research in preclinical non-human primate models of brain disorders through a post-doctoral fellowship at the CEA focussing on Parkinson’s disease and new anti-dyskinetic treatments. She was recruited permanently in the CEA in 2008 and since then directs both the primate Neurosurgery and Behavioural platforms in MIRCen. She has been PI of over 30 projects involving non-human primates and has extensive technical expertise in the experimental design and execution of pre-clinical protocols for brain delivery of drugs, viral vectors and cells, as well as in the assessment of cognitive and motor function in primates. She has been a consultant for the MJFF, an expert in the SCHEER scientific committee commissioned by the EU, she is part of the steering committee of the GDR BioSimia that federates all primate laboratories in France, of the Basal Ganglia Club and the NECTAR (Network for European CNS Transplantation and Repair) board. Her current research interests include functional evaluation of innovative gene or cell therapies for Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases as well as the development of new primate models of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.