Jae-Kyung Lee, PhD, is an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Georgia. Dr. Lee received her PhD from the  University of North Texas Health Science Center studying the natural killer (NK) cells, immune cells that defend the body against external and internal threats. She completed her post-doctoral training at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and had continued her research at Emory University in the laboratory of Malu Tansey, PhD, until 2015. She and her colleagues identified a novel function of RGS10 (Regulator of G-protein Signaling 10), a protein capable of protecting brain cells in Parkinson's disease (PD). She currently studies the role of NK cells in the progression of PD. Her long-term goal is to explain how the immune system influences PD-associated brain changes, which may represent a novel mechanism and an avenue for treating neurodegenerative diseases.