Dr. Ariadna Laguna, principal investigator of the Neurodegenerative Diseases group at Vall d'Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), is among the finalists for the La Vanguardia de la Ciència 2025 awards, organised by La Vanguardia and Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera. It is a joint nomination with Dr. Núria Peñuelas-Peñarroya, ISGlobal researcher who did her doctoral thesis at VHIR, for a study on Parkinson's disease published in Nature Communications and carried out with the support of the rest of the Neurodegenerative Diseases group at VHIR, led by Dr. Miquel Vila.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease, affecting more than 300,000 people in Spain. PD is characterised by the death of neurons responsible for the control of movement and other vital functions. One little understood aspect is the role of neuromelanin, a brain pigment that accumulates with age in neurons that preferentially degenerate in PM. Unfortunately, the lack of experimental models that reproduce human physiopathology has limited the development of effective treatments.

The research led by Dr. Laguna has allowed to develop, for the first time, a transgenic mouse model* that reproduces the accumulation of neuromelanin related to human age, which has not been explored until now, as the usual animal models do not accumulate this pigment. "This model has allowed us to study the effects of neuromelanin on neuronal health, revealing alterations in the release of neurotransmitters linked to motor and non-motor symptoms (sleep, emotional, memory and gastrointestinal disorders) of Parkinson's disease", explains Dr. Laguna. In the model, moreover, the presence of Lewy bodies and an increase in neuroinflammatory markers have been observed, which will help to investigate the mechanisms of neurodegeneration.

"In previous studies we have discovered that the accumulation of neuromelanin is related to Parkinson's disease. Having this new animal model provides us with an opportunity to advance in the understanding of the disease and its progression and to study new therapeutic approaches to slow neuronal death", says Dr. Laguna.

You can vote for her on this link until 22nd June!

Dr. Ariadna Laguna

Dr. Laguna graduated in Biology at Pompeu Fabra University in 2003 and obtained her PhD in 2008 at the Centre for Genomic Regulation with a study on the molecular basis of neurological alterations in Down syndrome. In 2009, she joined the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research - Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweden) as a Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher to work on the transcriptional regulation of dopamine neurons during development and in pathological conditions such as Parkinson's disease.

Since 2014 she is part of the Neurodegenerative Diseases research group at VHIR, first as a postdoctoral researcher Beatriu de Pinós funded by AGAUR-FP7 Marie Curie Actions. Subsequently, she received a Young Researcher contract from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, a Junior Leader grant from Fundació La Caixa and a Ramon y Cajal contract from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities to establish her own research lines within the group, focused on understanding the relationship of the intestine-cervil axis in the physiopathology of Parkinson's disease.

Dr. Laguna has published 25 scientific articles, has participated in 22 research projects and two patents. In addition, she is very active in scientific dissemination and citizen science activities to raise awareness of Parkinson's disease in society.

Vanguardia de la Ciència Award

The Vanguardia de la Ciència Award, organised by La Vanguardia and the Catalunya La Pedrera Foundation, aims to promote excellence in the field of research, and to give visibility to the significant contributions that so many women are making in the field of science, recognising their work, highlighting it and positioning them as role models for future generations.

The prize is awarded on the basis of a weighted vote between the opinions of the readers of La Vanguardia, who can vote for the finalist research projects, which is valued at 50%, and those of the prestigious scientific advisory committee, which chooses from among the research projects presented and is valued at another 50%.

*Institutional Statement on the use of research animals