Jean-Christophe (Chris) Rochet obtained his PhD degree in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Canada) in 1998. From 1999-2002, Dr. Rochet worked as a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Peter Lansbury in the Department of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. His postdoctoral research (supported by a fellowship from the Human Frontier Science Program Organization) focused on the role of alpha-synuclein self-assembly in Parkinson's disease.

In the fall of 2002, Dr. Rochet joined the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at Purdue University, where he is now a professor. The overall goals of his research program are to understand mechanisms of neurotoxicity and neuroprotection in PD by characterizing PD-related gene products (e.g., alpha-synuclein, DJ-1), and to use this information to develop new therapeutic strategies.

Dr. Rochet's honors include a Melvin Yahr Fellowship from the International Federation of Parkinson's Disease and a PhRMA Foundation Sabbatical Fellowship in Pharmacology and Toxicology.