19 December 2023 – When Neha Jain was in the second year of her PhD, things were not going to plan. “I was on the verge of leaving the programme, but then someone stepped in, offered me a place in his team, brought the best out of me, and reignited my love of science,” says Jain, who is now a group leader at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur. “I was lucky to have great mentors during my PhD and postdoctoral research and one of my main motivations for becoming a group leader is to pass these positive experiences on to people in my own team.”
Amongst the areas that Jain’s group focus on is the folding of proteins that leads to the formation of ordered aggregates called amyloids, which can play a major role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. “In the past conditions such as Parkinson’s were thought to originate in the brain, however strong links have recently been determined between the gut microbiome and the onset of the disease,” she says. “We use biophysical and biochemical techniques to try to better understand disease progression at an early stage, for instance by studying the crosstalk between human amyloids and those produced by gut microbes such as bacteria and fungi, and how our immune system responds.”
As an EMBO Global Investigator, Jain wants to connect with researchers working in complementary fields. “I am thrilled to join the EMBO Global Investigator Network: as well as being an important milestone in my career, it will provide substantial opportunities for me and my team to collaborate internationally with leading scientists in different disciplines,” she says. “I am very grateful to my team and the supportive environment in the institute, which motivates me to take on challenges. I hope that the new angles that we will be able to take in our research will help shine light on, for instance, why some people are more prone to Parkinson’s disease than others and could hopefully help pave the way for the development of targeted therapeutics.”
