Mary Chapman, features writer —

The Parkinson’s Foundation announced that it has added five sites to its national initiative that provides complimentary genetic testing and counseling to people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). In addition to helping patients better understand their disease, the program aims to improve Parkinson’s therapies — and enable personalized treatments —…

The Accelerating Medicines Partnership (AMP) for Parkinson’s (PD) has opened a data portal with de-identified information from 4,298 Parkinson’s patients and healthy control subjects for use by scientists seeking new treatments for the progressive neurodegenerative disease. With unprecedented access to a data pool of this…

Investigative collaborators from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Italy have been awarded the fifth annual Bachmann-Strauss Prize for Excellence in Dystonia Research. The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) for Parkinson’s Research presented the awards recently to UAB’s David…

As part of a new partnership with Parkinson’s UK, the Parkinson’s Foundation has granted the nonprofit $250,000 toward a prospective new treatment linked to mitochondrial function that is being developed in the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech program. The grant will help advance a project aimed at uncovering new methods…

The Parkinson’s Foundation is launching a new initiative called Parkinson’s Revolution, a global cycling event designed to highlight the benefits of exercise in Parkinson’s disease while also raising funds for research. A new signature event for the foundation, Parkinson’s Revolution is an indoor cycling program taking place Feb. 8…

Medtronic, a medical technology company, announced that its Activa patient programmer technology for deep brain stimulation (DBS) therapy is now available to U.S. patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and other movement disorders. The new programmer, approved by the FDA in July, is used with a customized…

The U.S. Defense Department has awarded researchers from Northeast Ohio Medical University (NOMU) and Michigan State University (MSU) about $1 million each to study the effect of exercise at different stages of Parkinson’s disease. The three-year grant went to longtime collaborators Sheila Fleming, PhD,…

To help Parkinson’s patients identify and discuss their “off episodes” — the return of disease symptoms — with healthcare providers, Acorda Therapeutics is offering a new online tool. Called the “Do Tell” Your Doctor Tool, the questionnaire is used to record such episodes, which can…

To provide new patients with the information, tools and resources they need to best manage their health, the Parkinson’s Foundation has launched a campaign to close the gap between learning of an illness and knowing how and where to find help. Called “Newly Diagnosed: Building a Better Life with Parkinson’s…

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) and Massachusetts General Hospital have announced an initiative to enhance diversity in Parkinson’s disease research. Fostering Inclusivity in Research Engagement for Underrepresented Populations in Parkinson’s Disease (FIRE-UP PD) is an MJFF-funded study that will establish and assess outreach programs in Boston, Massachusetts, Weston,…