Contributor Spotlight
VICTORIA DARDOV
Victoria Dardov is a neuroscientist with an impressive background in proteomics as well as a data scientist currently at Technome. The AMP PD team was exceptionally lucky to enlist Victoria’s assistance with the analysis and curation of our proteomics data because she had previously worked with Dr. Jennifer Van Eyk, who is performing our unbiased proteomics analyses for us. Not only has Victoria been an amazing resource for AMP PD’s proteomics efforts, but she has generously taken the initiative in authoring our proteomics analysis notebooks and leading webinars to demonstrate their use. Victoria IS proteomics on the AMP PD team and this data would not be as accessible to our users without her. It is our great pleasure to introduce you to her here.
What is your contribution to AMP PD?
I am in charge of the data coordination for proteomics data and also work on developing tools, workspaces and resources for the proteomics data. In addition, I also contribute to various AMP PD working groups, including the proteomics working group, run the AMP PD Terra Community Workspaces Webinar series and am involved in AMP PD outreach activities.
How did you become interested in research relating to Parkinson’s Disease?
I have always been interested in neurodegenerative disease research and have done research on Huntington's Disease, ALS and Parkinson's Disease (PD) throughout my research career. I particularly became interested in PD research during my PhD, when I was asked to help with proteomics studies for sporadic PD. There was a specific signature in a specific set of iPSC derived PD lines (young onset), which really peaked my interest. It was also intriguing how the proteomics data really drove the direct of the studies. This research was eventually published in 2020 in Nature Medicine.
What is your advice for scientists getting started with PD research?
PD is a devastating disease for which there is no cure. Every contribution and discovery gets us one step closer to being able to help patients with PD. This is why we do what we do, so as we go through our day to day experiments, keep the big picture in mind.