Elpida Tsika, PhD, has been conducting research in the field of Parkinson’s disease (PD) for more than 15 years, both in academia and industry. She completed her graduate studies in the laboratory of Dr. Harry Ischiropoulos at the University of Pennsylvania, where she focused her studies in understanding the selective vulnerability of dopamine-producing neurons to alpha-synuclein aggregates. She then moved to the laboratory of Dr. Darren Moore at the Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne to complete her postdoctoral training. There she has contributed to the generation and characterization of animal models, including transgenic and viral-mediated overexpression of LRRK2, VPS35, and alpha-synuclein; these models can serve for testing therapeutic agents, as well as for advancing the understanding of molecular mechanisms governing PD. At AC Immune, she is leading the alpha-synuclein biology team working towards the development of diagnostics and therapeutics for PD and other diseases caused by toxic accumulation of synucleins.