University of Dundee’s Professor Miratul Muqit Named First Director of UK DRI Parkinson’s Research Centre

University of Dundee’s Professor Miratul Muqit Named First Director of UK DRI Parkinson’s Research Centre

(IN BRIEF) The University of Dundee has named Professor Miratul Muqit as inaugural Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute’s Parkinson’s Research Centre. Funded with £10 million, the centre aims to develop new predictive tools, preventive strategies, and treatments to combat Parkinson’s disease progression. Muqit—whose Dundee lab revealed how PINK1 and Parkin mutations lead to harmful mitochondrial buildup—will maintain his research team in Dundee and establish a complementary programme at the University of Edinburgh. In his national role, he will coordinate Parkinson’s research across the UK DRI network. His appointment, praised by MRC-PPU Director Professor Dario Alessi, underscores Dundee’s leading position in Parkinson’s science and the shared goal of delivering disease-modifying therapies.

(PRESS RELEASE) DUNDEE, 26-Jun-2025 — /EuropaWire/ — Professor Miratul Muqit of the University of Dundee has been appointed as the first Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute’s new Parkinson’s Research Centre. Operating from the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC-PPU), Muqit—a globally recognised authority in Parkinson’s science—will spearhead efforts to uncover the underlying drivers of the disease.

Established earlier this year with a £10 million investment, the centre’s mission is twofold: to pioneer methods for predicting and preventing Parkinson’s and to advance therapies that can halt or even reverse its progression. Building on his team’s landmark discoveries about how PINK1 and Parkin gene mutations trigger mitochondrial damage in neurons, Muqit has already contributed to the launch of Phase 1 trials targeting damaged mitochondria in patients.

In his expanded role, Professor Muqit will continue his lab’s Dundee-based research while also setting up a UK DRI-funded programme at the University of Edinburgh. Beyond these institutional duties, he will guide Parkinson’s research across the entire UK DRI network, shaping national strategy and collaboration for years to come.

“It’s a privilege to lead this new centre in partnership with Parkinson’s UK,” said Muqit. “As a clinician, I feel the urgent need for treatments that modify disease course. My goal is to create a hub fully engaged with people living with Parkinson’s—one that excels in both fundamental discovery and translation into diagnostics and therapies.”

Professor Dario Alessi, Director of the MRC-PPU, added, “Miratul’s leadership will unify UK-wide efforts to tackle Parkinson’s. His vision promises to accelerate breakthroughs that could one day slow or stop disease progression. This appointment further cements Dundee’s status as a world-class Parkinson’s research centre.”

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SOURCE: University of Dundee