Ashley S. Harms, PhD, is an assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the department of neurology and the Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics. As a dedicated neuroimmunologist, Dr. Harms studies the cellular and immunological mechanisms underlying the initiation and progression of alpha-synucleinopathy disorders. Using novel genetic and viral model approaches to study the role of immune cells subsets, her lab focuses on how the protein alpha-synuclein contributes to activation of microglia, infiltration of peripheral immune cells and subsequent activation of the immune response in Parkinson disease (PD) and Multiple System Atrophy (MSA).