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Biography

Kristijan completed a Bachelor of Biomedicine (Neuroscience with Honours in Biochemistry) and a Master of Philosophy (Physics) at the University of Melbourne, followed by a Doctor of Philosophy (Neuroscience) at Magdalen College, the University of Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. During his DPhil, he served as co-President of Cortex Club, Oxford's Neuroscience Society (2016–2017). His long-term vision is to build a distinctive research program that unites basic science with translational insight, with the ultimate goal of preserving memory into old age.

Kristijan Jovanoski

BBiomed(Hons), MPhil Melb, DPhil Oxon

Postdoctoral Research Scientist

Research Summary

Dr Kristijan Jovanoski studies how the brain’s reward and memory systems are affected in disorders such as Parkinson’s with dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies. His research focuses on dopamine, a brain chemical that plays a key role in motivation, learning, memory, and behaviour.

Using advanced methods including artificial intelligence, digital pathology, genetics, and transcriptomics, he investigates why certain brain cells become vulnerable and degenerate over time. His work aims to improve understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying dementia and related disorders, with the long-term goal of enabling earlier diagnosis and developing more effective treatments.

Academic Profile

Dr Kristijan Jovanoski is a neuroscientist developing a research programme at the intersection of learning, memory, and neurodegeneration. During his doctoral training, he investigated how dopaminergic neurons encode reward within memory circuits. As a postdoctoral researcher, he integrated large-scale behavioural, imaging, and multi-omics approaches to develop a mechanistic circuit model of maladaptive reward seeking that was published in Nature. This work revealed how dysregulated dopamine signalling drives pathological behaviours, with important parallels to impulse control disorders that affect approximately one in six Parkinson's patients treated with dopamine agonists.

He now investigates whether similar neurochemical vulnerabilities contribute to dementia and selective neuronal loss later in life. Parkinson's is characterized by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and may progress to dementia. Clinically, Parkinson's with dementia is distinguished from another condition, dementia with Lewy bodies, using a pragmatic "one-year rule", although the underlying biological differences between these Lewy body dementias remain unresolved. Lewy body dementias lack effective disease-modifying therapies and remain among the most commonly misdiagnosed neurodegenerative disorders.

By integrating state-of-the-art approaches in machine learning, digital pathology, genetics, and transcriptomics, he aims to build a unified biological framework that distinguishes among Lewy body dementias and clarifies the mechanisms underlying selective neuronal vulnerability and disease progression.

Patient and Public Involvement

Kristijan welcomes enquiries from patients, carers, advocacy groups, and members of the public with an interest in dementia, Parkinson's, or related research. He is always happy to discuss the latest developments in neurodegeneration research, public engagement opportunities, or ways to contribute to and help shape ongoing research.

Supervision

Prospective undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students are encouraged to contact Kristijan to discuss potential research projects and opportunities.

Recent Publications

Jovanoski KD✉ and Waddell S✉ (2025). Striking parallels between the dopaminergic systems of flies and mammals. The Handbook of Dopamine. Chapter 23, 287-303. Cragg SJ & Walton ME (Eds.), Elsevier.

Jovanoski KD✉, Duquenoy L, Mitchell J, Kapoor I, Treiber CD, Croset V, Dempsey G, Parepalli S, Cognigni P, Otto N, Felsenberg J, and Waddell S✉ (2023). Dopaminergic systems create reward seeking despite adverse consequences. Nature. 623, 356-365.