Marisa Wexler, MS, senior science writer —

An informational podcast aims to instruct nursing students in Parkinson’s disease, helping them to feel more empathy for patients and equipping them with the knowledge needed for better Parkinson’s-specific care, a study reports. “By raising awareness of the disease, student nurses will develop an increased understanding, enabling them to…

Supernus Pharmaceuticals has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) again to approve the apomorphine infusion pump SPN-830 for treating Parkinson’s disease. “We look forward to continuing our effort with the FDA throughout the NDA [new drug application] review process to bring a promising alternative to…

Toxic clumps of the protein alpha-synuclein change the way the brain cells most affected by Parkinson’s disease utilize energy, a study shows. Its researchers wanted a clearer understanding of how “key metabolic processes” are affected by the protein’s aggregation, damaging “vulnerable” nerve cells within the brain, they wrote. To…

Mark Denham, PhD, a scientist in Denmark, has been awarded a patent that covers a new way of using stem cells to create cell therapies for Parkinson’s disease. Securing the patent, which provides two decades of intellectual property protection for the technology, is a first step toward establishing a…

Dosing has begun in a Phase 1 clinical trial that is testing GT-02287, an experimental oral medication being developed to treat Parkinson’s disease caused by mutations in the GBA1 gene. The first two participants in the trial have been dosed, according to the therapy’s developer, Gain Therapeutics. “Initiating first-in-human…

In people with Parkinson’s disease, the cerebral cortex of the brain can compensate for disease-related dysfunction in the basal ganglia, the main part of the brain affected by Parkinson’s. Researchers found that patients with milder Parkinson’s symptoms have more compensatory activity in the cerebral cortex, while patients with…

Measuring levels of an enzyme called DOPA decarboxylase (DDC) in the blood or fluid around the brain and spinal cord may help distinguish Parkinson’s disease and related disorders from non-Parkinsonian neurodegenerative diseases, a study reports. “Since the symptoms of various neurodegenerative brain diseases resemble each other, there is a…

When the alpha-synuclein protein is present at high concentrations around cellular membranes, it lifts up rather than lying flat against the membrane, making it more prone to clumping, a study shows. The finding may offer insight into the molecular mechanisms that drive Parkinson’s disease, where toxic clumps of alpha-synuclein…

Dopamine-making neurons — whose loss characterizes Parkinson’s disease — produce thousands of circular RNA molecules that, beyond their normal duties, may play a role in neurodegenerative diseases, a study reports. “Circular RNA has long been cast aside as junk, but we believe it has an important role in programming…

The parkin enzyme — whose loss is a known genetic risk factor of Parkinson’s disease — not only helps to regulate healthy activity of energy-generating mitochondria, but also plays critical roles in nerve cell communication, according to a study using patient-derived neurons. Particularly, parkin loss resulted in defective recycling…