Newlands Lecture 2025: Presented by Professor Perdita Barran

Newlands Lecture 2025

An engaging lecture by Professor Perdita Barran, presenting her work in mass spectrometry and it's use in Parkinson's disease research.

On Wednesday 23^rd April 2025, we hosted around 250 visitors for the annual Newlands lecture. This year, Professor Perdita Barran (University of Manchester) gave an engaging presentation about her research using mass spectrometry, to detect Parkinson's disease though skin swabs. The research is inspired by Joy Milne, who noticed a change in her husband’s odour years before his Parkinson’s diagnosis. It was only after meeting other Parkinson’s patients, that she noticed many of them had the same odour. This observation has led to a fascinating study, whereby using mass spectrometry and non-invasive skin swab testing, it has shown it can be possible to detect Parkinson’s disease prior to onset.

During the presentation, Professor Barran had audience members walk up the aisles with vials containing different scents, challenging the crowd to identify the smells. The audience had a lot of fun putting their senses to the test!

Alongside the Newlands lecture, the Chemistry department hosted tours for various school groups, alongside their teachers and parents. The visitors were shown around the department, inside our labs, study areas and social spaces. They were also able to participate in a demonstration in the Chemical Kitchen, conducting a spherification experiment alongside our teaching assistants. We had great feedback from the students, some of whom are hoping to apply to Imperial in the next few years!