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The Crick magazine, spring 2026

University of Dundee

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Dario Alessi is Professor of Signal Transduction and Science Director of the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit, University of Dundee

Dario Alessi was born in Strasbourg in 1967. He obtained his BSc (1988) and PhD (1991) from the University of Birmingham (UK). He carried out postdoctoral research at the University of Dundee (1991–1997), where he became deeply interested in how human disease are regulated by protein kinases, a class of enzymes that control cellular function. In 1997, Dario was appointed Programme Leader at the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit in Dundee, and in 2012, he became its Director. His current research focuses on deciphering the role of the LRRK2 kinase pathway in Parkinson’s disease. His lab has made major contributions, including the discovery that LRRK2 targets a group of enzymes called Rab GTPases, and has helped elucidate how the LRRK2 enzyme is regulated, how it functions, and how Parkinson’s-linked variants affect its activity. Dario leads a major research team within the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s Collaborative Research Network (ASAP-CRN) and is a key contributor to the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s LRRK2 Investigative Therapeutics Exchange (LITE) programme. These initiatives aim to accelerate the development of LRRK2-targeting therapies and advance progress toward LRRK2-relevant clinical biomarkers, with the ultimate goal of improving diagnosis and slowing disease progression. Dario is deeply committed to mentorship, open science, and collaborative research, and works closely with industry partners and clinicians to translate scientific discoveries into patient benefit. He also currently serves as President of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB).

Dario is an EMBO Member and won the EMBO Gold Medal in 2005. He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Royal Society, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and was made OBE in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours List, the year in which he also won the Jeantet-Collen prize for translational medicine.

Dario is also the British winner of the Feldberg Foundation Prize 2026 for Anglo-German scientific exchange.

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