Celebrating 10 Years of NCER-PD
Professor Rejko Krüger is Director of Transversal Translational Medicine (TTM) at the Luxembourg Institute of Health and Professor for Neuroscience at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine of the University of Luxembourg. His clinical and experimental research on Parkinson’s disease was supported by an Excellence Grant (PEARL) from the ‘Fonds National de Recherche’ (FNR). He joined the University of Luxembourg in June 2014 after serving nine years as Associate Professor for Neurology at the University of Tübingen and as Head of the Laboratory for Functional Neurogenomics at the Hertie-Institute for Clinical Brain Research in Tübingen, Germany. His professional experience as neurologist and neuroscientist extends over 25 years in academic settings. Prof. Krüger is specifically interested in studying genetic causes of neurodegenerative diseases and their translation into novel treatment strategies, which has resulted in over 300 scientific publications thus far (>40.000 citations, h-index 72). He coordinated the National Center for Excellence in Research on Parkinson’s disease (NCER-PD), funded by the FNR. Furthermore, he works as a senior consultant for patients with Movement Disorders at the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL). Since 2017, the Ministry of Health is supporting Prof. Krüger to lead integrated healthcare concepts for neurodegenerative diseases in Luxembourg: the “Programme Démence Prévention” (an initiative to prevent dementia) and ParkinsonNet Luxembourg (a care network of health care professionals for Parkinson’s disease). The work of Prof. Krüger in translational medicine was acknowledged by the research award for outstanding scientific achievement by the Luxembourg Research Fund (FNR) in 2022.
Bianca Dragomir Bianca Dragomir is a highly skilled professional with a strong academic and professional background in international relations, and administrative management. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Bologna (2013) and a master’s degree in international relations from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB, 2015). Bianca began her career as an Office Administrator and Event Coordinator at the European Banking Federation, where she gained valuable experience in office management, organizational coordination, and event planning. Following this, Bianca spent three years as a consultant at PwC Luxembourg, where she provided strategic advisory services for EU institutions. Her work in the consulting sector allowed her to deepen her analytical and problem-solving skills, while supporting clients across at the European level. Most recently, Bianca spent five years at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), serving as a Research and Administration Officer. In this role, she balances administrative responsibilities with research support, further strengthening her abilities in project management and contributing to key initiatives in the health and research sectors.
Dr. Joëlle Fritz is a researcher at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), specializing in microbiome research. Her work focuses on understanding the human gut microbiome and its role in health and disease. Notably, she co-authored a study titled “Altered infective competence of the human gut microbiome in COVID-19,” published in March 2023, which investigates how COVID-19 affects the gut microbiome’s infective competence. Dr. Fritz has also been involved in research related to Parkinson’s disease, contributing to studies on social determinants of well-being in patients with this condition.
Dr. Jón Pol Gales is Junior Program Manager for the National Centre for Excellence in Research on Parkinson’s Disease (NCER-PD) at the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH). He studied molecular and cellular biology jointly at the University of Luxembourg and the University of Strasbourg, France. In 2022, he obtained a PhD in molecular virology from the University of Strasbourg for his work on the nuclear export of pararetroviral RNA performed at the Institute of Molecular Biology in Plants (IBMP). In 2023, he joined the Luxembourg Center for Systems Biolomedicine (LCSB) at the University of Luxembourg, where he shifted his focus from molecular biology and virology research to science and health communication, focusing on neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as rare childhood diseases.
