Professor David Rubinsztein

I am Professor of Molecular Neurogenetics and a UK Dementia Research Institute Group Leader at the University of Cambridge. My laboratory is based in the  Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. I earned my MB ChB, BSc(Med)Hons, and PhD degrees from University of Cape Town. 

I came to Cambridge in 1993 as a Senior Registrar in genetic pathology and was the first person to complete formal training in this field in the UK. My research is focused in the field of autophagy, particularly in the context of neurodegenerative diseases. My laboratory pioneered the strategy of autophagy upregulation as a possible therapeutic approach in various neurodegenerative diseases, and has identified drugs and novel pathways that may be exploited for this objective. I have made contributions that reveal the relevance of autophagy defects as a disease mechanism and to the basic cell biology of this important catabolic process. 

I was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2004), EMBO member (2011), Fellow of the Royal Society (2017) and membership of Academia Europaea (2022). I was awarded the Graham Bull Prize (2007), Thudichum Medal (2017), Roger de Spoelberch prize (2017), the Goudie Medal (2020) and The Movement Disorders Research Award from American Academy of Neurology (2024).  

Project/study information 

Neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s Disease, are associated with the accumulation of intracellular aggregate-prone proteins. We aim to understand the links between these diseases and autophagy — the bulk recycling process that we discovered could degrade these proteins. 

Recruitment of PhD / Post-doctoral researchers 

PhD students interested in applying from 2026 onwards on projects related to autophagy or ferroptosis in the context of neurodegeneration are welcome to contact Prof. Rubinsztein.