Associate Professor
Richard Gordon

Biography

Associate Professor Richard Gordon leads a multi-disciplinary, industry-partnered research program in Translational Neuroscience which aims to develop new treatments and diagnostics for neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).  Dr Gordon's research program integrates immunology, drug development, pharmacology, metabolomics and microbial metagenomics to understand and target key pathological mechanisms which drive the onset and progression these neurodegenerative disorders.  This work combines the discovery of new targets in human patients with mechanistic insights from disease models to develop and test new therapeutic strategies that can be translated towards clinical trials.

Key research themes within this program include:

Understanding how chronic immune and inflammasome activation contribute to neurodegeneration

The role of gut dysbiosis and gastrointestinal dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease and ALS pathophysiology

Therapeutic targeting of the gut-brain axis for neuroprotection

Drug discovery, development and repositioning for novel therapeutic targets

Discovery and validation of clinical biomarkers for Parkinson's disease and ALS

Clinical trials for disease-modifying therapeutic strategies