Rebecca L. Wallings, PhD

Rebecca is an Assistant Professor at Indiana University’s (IU) Stark Neurosciences Research Institute and Departments of Neurology, and Microbiology and Immunology. She earned her PhD from the University of Oxford in 2019, where she identified a novel LRRK2 substrate, vATPase a1, linking LRRK2 mutations to lysosomal dysfunction. Her postdoctoral research focused on lysosomal regulation of inflammation in neurodegeneration, with emphasis on LRRK2 and GRN mutations. She received fellowships from the Parkinson Foundation and Brightfocus Foundation, and led pioneering work on immune cell exhaustion in Parkinson’s. In 2024, Rebecca was awarded the a transition to independence award from the Parkinson Foundation, with her lab opening in October of 2025. Her independent research program is dedicated to understanding how an aging immune system, specifically immune cell exhaustion and immunosenescence, drives neurodegeneration and how we may leverage these mechanisms to develop targeted therapeutic strategies to slow, halt or prevent neurodegenerative disease.