Oliveira, Luis M. A.Gasser, ThomasEdwards, RobertZweckstetter, MarkusMelki, RonaldStefanis, LeonidasLashuel, Hilal A.Sulzer, DavidVekrellis, KostasHalliday, Glenda M.Tomlinson, Julianna J.Schlossmacher, MichaelJensen, Poul HenningSchulze-Hentrich, JuliaRiess, OlafHirst, Warren D.El-Agnaf, OmarMollenhauer, BritLansbury, PeterOuteiro, Tiago F.2021-08-142021-08-142021-08-142021-07-2610.1038/s41531-021-00203-9https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/180693WOS:000678592500001With the advent of the genetic era in Parkinson's disease (PD) research in 1997, alpha-synuclein was identified as an important player in a complex neurodegenerative disease that affects >10 million people worldwide. PD has been estimated to have an economic impact of $51.9 billion in the US alone. Since the initial association with PD, hundreds of researchers have contributed to elucidating the functions of alpha-synuclein in normal and pathological states, and these remain critical areas for continued research. With this position paper the authors strive to achieve two goals: first, to succinctly summarize the critical features that define alpha-synuclein's varied roles, as they are known today; and second, to identify the most pressing knowledge gaps and delineate a multipronged strategy for future research with the goal of enabling therapies to stop or slow disease progression in PD.NeurosciencesNeurosciences & Neurologyred-blood-cellsmultiple system atrophygenome-wide associationlewy body pathologya-beta componentautosomal-dominantalzheimers-diseaserat modelmonoclonal-antibodiespotential biomarkertext::journal::journal article::review article