Ana Luisa
Gil Martinez

I am a Saavedra Fajardo Research Fellow at the University of Murcia, where I develop and apply computational and machine learning methods to study neurodegenerative diseases by integrating clinical, genetic, and transcriptomic data. I trained at the University of Murcia (BSc in Biochemistry and MSc in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology). I then pursued my PhD focused on the effects of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds on glial activation and dopaminergic cell death in Parkinsonian mouse models. In 2019, I obtained a joint international PhD degree with cum laude distinction from Maastricht University and the University of Murcia. After my PhD, I was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from Fundación Séneca at University College London (UCL). There, I worked with Prof. Mina Ryten on transcriptomic data analyses from Parkinson’s patients, contributing to the development of open platforms such as CoExp Web. Later, I joined Prof. Huw Morris and Prof. John Hardy's group at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology as a Research Fellow. During this period, I worked on the creation of a harmonized database integrating clinical, pathological and genetic data from patients with neurodegenerative diseases across more than nine UK biobanks (MD-GAP study). I am currently involved in international projects funded by ASAP and the Michael J. Fox Foundation, and I am an active member of global consortia such as the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2). I have also led scientific communication initiatives as Communications Chair in the Alzheimer’s International Association and co-founded the Neuroscience Committee of the Society of Spanish Researchers in the UK (SRUK-CERU).