Dr Alexandros C. Kokotos

KJCF Quest Fellow in Brain Health and Multimorbidity

  • UK DRI Parkinson's Research Centre
  • Institute for Neuroscience and Cardiovascular Research

Contact details

Biography

Background

Since a young age, I had an inner desire to understand how life works. After completing my BSc on Biology at my home college, I joined the University of Edinburgh with a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship to undertake a PhD in Molecular Neuroscience. I then did my postdoc in Weill Cornell Medicine, focusing on metabolic mechanisms underlying Parkinson’s Disease, as part of ASAP, a new worldwide effort against PD. In parallel, I also participated in SPARK-NS, a translational drug discovery program. My findings provided novel insights into the molecular relationship between brain function and metabolism and how this could be exploited to design first-in-class therapeutics against neurodegenerative diseases. I will now focus research in my lab on a bigger open question, how whole-body changes in metabolism, like in the case of diabetes, the most prevalent metabolic disorder of our times, affect the risk for developing neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.  

Qualifications

  • PhD in Molecular Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh, UK
  • Postdoc in Brain Metabolism, Weill Cornell Medicine, USA

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Research summary

My scientific interest is focused on how the brain works. More specifically, I want to understand how the energy we take from food is used by the brain to fuel its demanding functions. In my postdoctoral training in Weill Cornell Medicine, I identified molecular mechanisms that generate and consume energy in central nervous system synapses and directly control synaptic transmission. Making use of these findings, I then designed genetic and pharmacological approaches to restore synaptic metabolism and function in Parkinson's Disease cell and animal models, opening a new path forward for neurodegenerative disease therapeutics. 

I will now focus research in my own lab at the UK DRI PRC on a bigger open question, how whole-body changes in metabolism, like in case of diabetes, the most prevalent metabolic disorder of our times, affect the risk for developing neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease. There is strong epidemiological evidence that diabetes drastically increases the risk for such diseases, however we lack any understanding of how this could happen at the molecular and cellular level. Here, I aspire to employ all my expertise in cellular and molecular neuroscience and tackle this complicated problem by leading a multidisciplinary team, with the singular aim of developing new therapies to improve human life.

Key Publications

  • Kokotos, A.C., Unda, S.R., Reyes-Pérez, P., Isayan, M., Periñan, M.T., Kaplitt, M.G., and Ryan, T.A. (2026). A guanosine metabolism-bioenergetics intersection drives Parkinson’s disease. bioRxiv, 10.64898/2026.07.29.741503.
  • Koshenov, Z., Kokotos, A.C., Benedetti L., Lippincott-Schwartz J., Ryan, T.A., An ER citrate transporter controls synaptic glycolysis, bioRxiv, 10.1101/2025.06.17.660213
  • Kokotos, A.C., Antoniazzi, A.M., Unda, S.R., Ko, M.S., Park, D., Eliezer, D., Kaplitt, M.G., Camilli, P. De and Ryan, T.A. Phosphoglycerate kinase is a central leverage point in Parkinson’s Disease driven neuronal metabolic deficits. Science Advances 10, eadn6016
  • Marvin, J.S., Kokotos, A.C., Kumar, M., Pulido, C., Tkachuk, A.N., Yao, J.S., Brown, T.A. and Ryan, T.A. (2024). iATPSnFR2: A high-dynamic-range fluorescent sensor for monitoring intracellular ATP. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121, e2314604121
  • Kokotos, A.C., Peltier, J., Davenport, E.C., Trost, M., and Cousin, M.A. (2018). Activity-dependent bulk endocytosis proteome reveals a key presynaptic role for the monomeric GTPase Rab11. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 115, E10177-E10186
  • Nicholson-Fish, J.C., Kokotos, A.C., Gillingwater, T.H., Smillie, K.J., and Cousin, M.A. (2015). VAMP4 Is an Essential Cargo Molecule for Activity-Dependent Bulk Endocytosis. Neuron 88, 973-984

 

Complete List of Published Work in Pubmed

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=kokotos+a&sort=date

 

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