Dr Eilis Dowd

Parkinson’s disease is a motor disorder and the main symptoms of the disease are caused by the progressive degenerative of dopamine-containing neurons from a discrete region of the brain. Current therapy only provides relief from the symptoms of the disease - it does not offer a ’cure’, nor does it halt the unrelenting degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons. Eilís’ research is focused on experimental approaches that offer the possibility of halting the degenerative process or even ’curing’ the disease. These include developing and validating novel neuroprotective or neuroreparative pharmacotherapies, gene therapies or cell-based therapies.