Maynooth University Faculty of Science and Engineering 2024 Dean's Lecture: Professor Perdita Barran, Director of the Michael Barber Centre for Collaborative Mass Spectrometry at The University of Manchester, UK presented her topic, ‘Diagnosing the Scent of Parkinson's’.
The Dean’s Lecture took place in Maynooth University on Wednesday, May 15. We were delighted to welcome many Maynooth University staff and students, the public, as well as members of Early Onset Parkinson’s Disease to this very special annual event.
At the opening of the event, Professor Ronan Farrell, Dean of the Faculty of Science and Engineering (FSE) at Maynooth University highlighted the significance of the lecture:
These lectures are a special opportunity for us to engage with distinguished figures within our academic community. We're honoured and fortunate to have the esteemed Professor Perdita Barran from the University of Manchester, joining us. Professor Barran is a renowned expert in Mass Spectrometry, a technique used to identify specific molecules with high accuracy. She's particularly interested in using this technique to find biomarkers for Parkinson's disease. This lecture promises to be a fascinating exploration of this topic which is highly relevant as Parkinson’s is the second most common neurodegenerative condition after Alzheimer’s in Ireland with an estimated 15,000 people living with the disease.
Prof Perdita Barran spoke about her group's work on Parkinson's Disease. She uses a chemical analysis technique called mass spectrometry to identify the biomarkers of Parkinson's disease and her work has furthered biomedical research by using home-customized instrumentation to provide a deeper understanding of the disease at the molecular level. She spoke about the award-winning ‘NoseToDiagnose’ research team that found that Parkinson’s disease could be identified from compounds on the surface of the skin. She spoke about how the research team used the observations of Joy Milne, a retired nurse whose husband was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease at the age of 45, developed a novel approach to early Parkinson’s Disease diagnosis.
Prof Barran is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and in 2020 she initiated the COVID-19 Mass Spectrometry Coalition and was appointed as Chief Advisor to the UK Government on Mass Spectrometry as part of their pandemic response. Read more about Perdita's work on The University of Manchester website here.
We would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Prof Barran for sharing her fascinating research with us. We also thank the FSE Research Committee for making the 2024 Dean’s Lecture a huge success.
