Margarida Maia, PhD, science writer —

Margarida is a biochemist (University of Porto, Portugal) with a PhD in biomedical sciences (VIB and KULeuven, Belgium). Her main interest is science communication. She is also passionate about design and the dialogue between art and science.

Articles by Margarida Maia

Mission Earns MJFF Grant to Develop Familial Parkinson’s Treatment

Mission Therapeutics has been awarded a Therapeutic Pipeline Program grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to advance development of its USP30 deubiquitylating enzyme (DUB) inhibitors for the treatment of familial Parkinson’s disease. The grant, worth about $500,000, will be used to test these inhibitors in animals that model…

New DBS Protocol Has Lasting Effects in Mice

A deep brain stimulation (DBS) protocol that targets specific sets of nerve cells, or neurons, in the brain produced long-lasting effects in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease. The new protocol, which uses brief bursts of electrical stimulation, offered effects that lasted hours longer than those of conventional DBS. The study,…

Study of Keyboard Typing as Way of Monitoring Motor Skills Planned

nQ Medical and EvergreenHealth are looking for people with early stage Parkinson’s disease to enter a monthlong study of a software tool — known as neuroQWERTY — to help track motor symptoms by monitoring how fingers interact with a computer’s keyboard. The study, expected to start in July, will enroll about 50…

NIH Awards Sinopia $3.3M to Advance Small Molecule Program

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Sinopia Biosciences $3.3 million to advance the development of its small molecule candidate for Parkinson’s disease. Sinopia will use the grant to move the small molecule forward through investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies. An IND is a medicine that has…

Smartwatch Could Help Patients Manage Blood Pressure Drops

Tracking blood pressure with a smartwatch could help people with Parkinson’s disease manage the sudden drop in blood pressure — called orthostatic hypotension — that can occur when changing positions, according to a study by researchers at the Samsung Medical Center, in South Korea. Measurements obtained with Samsung’s…

Walking Program Adds to Benefits of Respiratory Muscle Training

A walking program seems to boost the benefits of respiratory muscle training — which consists of specific exercises designed to improve the function of muscles used in breathing — in people with Parkinson’s disease, a small study has found. In the study, patients who followed an eight-week walking program…

Grant Supports Potential Disease-modifying Parkinson’s Therapies

The Silverstein Foundation for Parkinson’s with GBA is supporting early work by AcureX Therapeutics to bring into patient testing potential disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s disease. Specifically, grant funding will go to advance the development of small molecule compounds targeting the path involving a specific protein in mitochondria — the…