My name is Michael Bartl, I am a Clinician Scientist at the Universicty Medical Center Göttingen. My research interest is the investigation and characterization of neuroinflammatory, cellular processes in the prodromal and early stages of Parkinson’s disease. This includes the analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) with regard to specific T-cell activation on the protein α-synuclein. One focus is the examination of blood samples from patients at risk for or with established Parkinson’s disease or dementia with Lewy bodies. My main aim is to establish biomarkers that enable early diagnosis, are predictive of disease progression and correlate with established clinical scales. A further aim is to describe new pathways that are associated with the disease process and may represent potential therapeutic approaches.