Grandfather's illness encourages CSU student to explore treatments for Parkinson's disease

By Jeannie Lancaster

For the Reporter-Herald 

POSTED:   01/17/2015 11:32:59 AM MST

Colorado State University student Lukas Foster holds a picture of his grandfather, Willie Bandorf, in Dr. Ron Tjalkens's laboratory at the university. (John Eisele / Colorado State University)

From the time Lukas Foster was a young boy, he has dreamed of becoming a doctor — a dream his grandfather encouraged. "I've always been interested in science," said Foster, who is a junior and a biomedical science major at Colorado State University (CSU). "I've wanted to be a doctor since I was little."

His interest in medicine and research grew, when his grandfather, Willie Bandorf, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2003. Foster, whose home is in Valencia, Calif., was close to his grandfather. "He came to just about all of my baseball games," he said. "He was always there giving me a thumbs up."

It seemed a natural step that when the opportunity to do research in Dr. Ron Tjalkens' lab at CSU — focusing on Parkinson's disease — Foster took it. Dr. Tjalkens is a professor of toxicology and neuroscience at the University. 

Foster was a freshman at the time. "I wanted to get involved in research while in school. Rather than doing a random subject, I chose to focus on Parkinson's." 

"Some [professors] may not take students as freshman, but I find they approach it with enthusiasm," said Tjalkens. "By the time they're trained, they are an enormous asset to the team. 

"I like to see students that have a passion, and that's definitely Lukas. He's really excited to contribute to research that could help find a cure." Interestingly, at the time Foster was hired, Tjalkens was not aware of his personal connection to Parkinson's.Students have to be highly productive to be chosen, according to Tjalkens. "Some students that rise to the challenge, like Lukas, can be sent to scientific conferences and can be a co-author on a journal article." 

"No one knows the definitive cause of Parkinson's disease," said Foster. "Researchers are looking into genetic and viral factors. Everything is just therapeutic right now. The hope is to draw out the process to where the person passes away from natural causes before experiencing the more severe symptoms, where quality of life is affected."

Foster was honored in 2014, when he received a "Best in Show" award, at CSU's Celebrate Undergraduate Research and Creativity showcase. His research poster presentation was titled, "A novel diindolymethane analog, DIM-C-pPhBr, suppresses neuroinflammatory gene expression in BV-2 microglia cells." 

In simpler terms, the research focuses on the progression of neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease and how to slow that progression by reducing the inflammation in a patient's central nervous system. Tjalkens' research at CSU is supported by the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

"Wherever you have stress or injury in the brain, it's a bit like arthritis in your knee, but in the brain proper," said Tjalkens. "When there's stress or injury in the brain, the glial cells respond by trying to address that injury. The cells become inflamed. 

"You can treat it symptomatically," he said, "but after a while, you just keep losing nerve cells. Individuals become a prisoner in their own body.

"The goal would be to understand the signals that turn on this inflammation and then to turn it off. If you could only slow that down, you could add 10 or 15 years to a patient's life.

"We have evidence with experimental animals that we can slow it down." The next step that everyone in the field is trying to get to is clinical trials in humans. 

"Running a research lab is like running a small bio tech company," said Tjalkens. "At any one time, there will be two to three Ph.D. candidates, with a total of six to 10 individuals."

"I mainly work under Ph.D. students, Katriana Popichak and Sean Hammond," said Foster. "I am thankful to Dr. Tjalkens, Kateriana and Sean. All three were super patient. It's been a pleasure and privilege to work with them." 

As a junior at CSU this year, Foster realizes that he may have graduated when the research finally moves to clinical trials, but he is looking forward to the time when he moves on to medical school. "It's good," he said. "It's been a pleasure to spend these years of my life and make a difference. Someday, I'll be a medical doctor, but research may still be in my future." 

When Foster began his research with the CSU team, he knew he was making his grandfather proud. Even when he was no longer able to talk, Bandorf would show his support for his grandson with his familiar "thumbs-up" sign. "His eyes would light up whenever I talked about my research." 

Bandorf died in January 2013.

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