ASAP Discovery Fellowships awarded to MRC PPU researchers

Odetta Antico and Prosenjit Pal are part of the inaugural 2026 cohort of 23 fellows worldwide, selected to pursue bold and innovative projects across Parkinson’s disease research. The Discovery Fellowship, a flagship programme within ASAP’s Collaborative Research Network (CRN), is designed to support outstanding early-career scientists as they develop independent research directions while working across international teams.

Based at the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC PPU), University of Dundee, both fellows will contribute to ASAP’s global collaborative network, which promotes open science, data sharing, and interdisciplinary research to accelerate discovery in Parkinson’s disease. The programme supports early-career researchers in launching independent, high-impact projects, fosters cross-team collaboration and joint mentorship, and provides a pathway towards independent research careers. A distinctive feature is its joint mentorship model, enabling fellows to combine the expertise and resources of their “home” and “host” laboratories to pursue ambitious, high-risk research.

Odetta Antico

Odetta will undertake her fellowship in the laboratories of Miratul Muqit (MRC PPU) and Wade Harper (Harvard Medical School). Her project explores a novel intersection between mitochondrial dysfunction and Tau pathology in Parkinson’s disease. While defects in mitochondrial quality control, particularly involving the kinase PINK1, are well established in Parkinson’s, emerging evidence suggests that Tau, more commonly associated with dementia, may also contribute to disease progression.

Odetta will investigate whether PINK1 dysfunction and Tau pathology form a reinforcing pathogenic cycle, using advanced proteomics, biochemical approaches, and imaging. The work aims to identify early biomarkers and assess whether enhancing PINK1 activity could represent a therapeutic strategy.

In her own words: “Bringing together expertise from the Muqit and Harper labs provides a unique opportunity to develop new proteomic approaches and uncover novel biology at the intersection of Parkinson’s disease and Tau pathology.”

Prosenjit Pal

Prosenjit will carry out his fellowship in the laboratories of Dario Alessi (MRC PPU) and Shawn Ferguson (Yale School of Medicine). His project focuses on how two essential cellular systems, the endolysosomal pathway and primary cilia, interact to maintain neuronal health, and how their dysfunction contributes to Parkinson’s disease.

Using mouse and human cellular models, Prosenjit will investigate how disease-associated mutations disrupt these pathways and impair signalling required for neuronal survival. By addressing the largely unexplored crosstalk between lysosomal dysfunction and ciliogenesis, this work aims to uncover new disease mechanisms, biomarkers, and therapeutic targets.

In his own words: “This fellowship provides an exceptional opportunity to build an independent research direction through collaboration between Dundee and Yale, combining proteomics, lipidomics, and neuronal models to tackle fundamental questions in Parkinson’s disease.”

A global effort to accelerate Parkinson’s research

The ASAP CRN Discovery Fellowship reflects a broader commitment to building a diverse, collaborative, and globally connected pipeline of next-generation Parkinson’s researchers. By investing in people as well as ideas, ASAP aims to accelerate the pace of discovery and translate fundamental insights into meaningful impact for Parkinson's disease.

The funded projects span a wide range of areas, including alpha-synuclein biology, neuroinflammation, cellular quality control, and neuronal vulnerability, highlighting the breadth and ambition of the programme.

In addition to Odetta and Prosenjit, the MRC PPU is also supporting two others ASAP CRN Discovery Fellows across the wider network, including Bishal Basak (Team Hurley at Erika Holzbaur, Laboratory) and Jonathan Brenton (Team Hardy, Mina Ryten’s laboratory). This further underscores the Unit’s strong engagement with the ASAP Collaborative Research Network and its commitment to supporting the next generation of Parkinson’s disease researchers.

Learn more about the Fellowship: https://parkinsonsroadmap.org/newsroom/discovery-fellows-inaugural-cohort/