FoxFeed Blog: What We Fund: Brain's Resilience, Asthma Drug for Parkinson's and Signs of Disease in the Eye

August 13, 2018

The Michael J. Fox Foundation funds promising Parkinson's disease (PD) science to ensure new ideas flow into the pipeline and drive urgently needed breakthroughs for people living with the disease. Through open funding programs and staff-directed grants, the Foundation speeds efforts to grow our understanding of Parkinson's biology and clinical experience, measure PD pathology and progression, and develop therapies to alleviate symptoms and slow or stop disease.

In the second quarter of 2018, we funded projects targeting new treatments ranging from engineered immune cells to personalized speech therapy as well as efforts to improve or repurpose existing therapies. Other studies we funded aimed to predict disease progression, and we also supported studies of novel ways to diagnose and measure Parkinson's. Click through from the links below to read more on these projects.

We covered some of these projects in our recent "Ask the PhD" video covering studies funded through our biannual call for applications.

For a full list of MJFF-supported projects, visit our funded grants page.

Developing New Therapies

Therapies to slow or stop disease progression or to better manage symptoms, such as speech difficulties, aim to improve the quality of life of people living with PD.

• The PERSPECTIVE study: Personalized Speech Therapy for Active Conversation
  Bastiaan R. Bloem, MD, PhD; Parkinson Center Nijmegen and ParkinsonNet at Radboud University Medical Center, Netherlands

• Engineering Protective Immune Cells for the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease
  Rodrigo Pacheco, PhD; Fundación Ciencia & Vida, Chile

• Validating Astrocyte-produced Protein GDF15 as a Novel Neuroprotective Therapy 
  Lorraine Iacovitti, PhD; Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia

• Exosomal Delivery of shRNA Minicircles to Halt Neurodegeneration and Parkinson's
  Lydia Alvarez-Erviti, PhD; Center for Biomedical Research of La Rioja (CIBIR), Fundacion Rioja Salud, Spain

Rethinking Existing Therapies

Whether adapting an asthma drug for the treatment of PD or analyzing an existing Parkinson's treatment, researchers are advancing treatments on multiple fronts.

• Testing the Ability of Clenbuterol to Prevent or Modify the Course of Parkinson's Disease
  Joseph R. Patterson, PhD; Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan

• Registry for the Advancement of Deep Brain Stimulation Therapy in Parkinson's Disease
  Joohi Jimenez-Shahed, MD; Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Searching for Therapeutic Targets

The complexity of Parkinson's disease stands in the way of finding cure. Researchers continue to study mitochondria (cell's powerhouses) and other proteins as targets for future therapeutics.

• Studying the Production of Mitochondria to Find New Therapeutic Targets for Parkinson's Disease
  Douglass Matthew Turnbull, MBBS, MD, PhD, MRCP; Newcastle University Medical School, United Kingdom

• PAK6 Activity as a Therapeutic Target in LRRK2-associated Parkinson's Disease
  Elisa Greggio, PhD; University of Padova, Italy

• Interactions Between Alpha-synuclein and Glycoproteins as a Therapeutic Target
  Anna Elizabeth Rhoades, PhD; University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia

• Hexosaminidase as a Therapeutic Target for Parkinson's Disease 
  Ole Isacson, MD, PhD; Harvard Medical School, Boston

Studying Possible Disease Causes or Contributors

While the exact cause of Parkinson's is unknown, research points to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Aside from primary disease causes, many factors can speed or slow disease progression. Researchers aim to explain their contribution to Parkinson's disease.

• Studying Age-related Chronic Inflammation in Parkinson's Disease 
  Brit Mollenhauer, MD; Paracelsus-Elena-Klinik, Germany 

• Does the Brain's Ability to Compensate for the Shortage of Dopamine Affect Parkinson's Disease Progression?
  Rick C.G. Helmich, MD, PhD; Radboud University Medical Centre, Netherlands

• The Role of Lysosomal Lipid Metabolism in Parkinson's Disease
  Benoit Vanderperre, PhD; McGill University, Canada 

• Role of Neuromelanin in Parkinson's Disease and Brain Aging
  Miquel Vila, MD, PhD; Vall d'Hebron Research Institute, Spain

Predicting Dementia

People with Parkinson's disease are at risk for developing dementia, a decline in memory, thinking and/or language abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life. Researchers are searching for predictors of dementia and developing tests to identify those most at risk.

• Cognitive-driven Activities of Daily Living Impairment as a Predictor for Parkinson's Disease
  Inga Liepelt-Scarfone, PhD; University of Tübingen, Germany

• Can Brain Inflammation Predict Dementia Associated with Parkinson's Disease?
  Marion Buckwalter, MD, PhD; Stanford University, California

• The Role of Circular RNAs in Parkinson's Disease and Dementia
  Gavin Hudson, PhD; Newcastle University, United Kingdom

Discovering Novel Ways to Measure Parkinson's

There is a great need for objective tests for Parkinson's, which would facilitate diagnosis and help track disease progression and response to treatment. The ongoing search for objective measures of disease -- biomarkers -- continues to produce promising candidates.

• Searching for Signs of Parkinson's Disease in the Eye
  Stella Sarraf, PhD; Amydis, Inc., San Diego, California

• Developing a Test for Circular RNA, a Possible Biomarker of Parkinson's Disease
  Sebastian Kadener, PhD; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

• N-formyl Peptides as Novel Biomarkers for Parkinson's Disease
  Mary Kathleen Doherty, PhD; University of the Highlands and Islands, United Kingdom
  
  
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  Then click on MJFox's orange items to view.