Senior Research Associate/Lecturer in Regenerative Medicine
Dr Marzena Kurzawa-Akanbi is a lecturer and a research group leader in the Biosciences Institute at Newcastle University. Her research combines biomedical science and interdisciplinary approaches employing molecular cell biology, stem cell-based disease modelling, neuropathobiology and bioengineering methods to study the central nervous system health and disease, as well as to develop novel translational science solutions. She has a longstanding research interest in the role of extracellular vesicles in disease processes and their translational potential as accessible liquid biopsies for the diagnosis of neurodegenerative conditions. Dr Kurzawa-Akanbi is also a technology inventor, academic founder and chief scientific officer of ESP Diagnostics Limited (ESPDx), a spin out company from Newcastle University. ESPDx is developing minimally invasive laboratory-based tests for the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, and an exclusion diagnostic for Alzheimer’s disease.