Patricia Inácio, PhD,  science writer—

A natural chemical modification — called O-GlcNAc — that occurs in specific building blocks of the alpha-synuclein protein can lessen its capacity to form toxic amyloid fibrils, a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease, a study shows. “Taken together, we believe that these results have important implications for … the exploitation…

The department of neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is now part of the CurePSP Center of Care network, which works to enhance public awareness and advance research to better understand atypical parkinsonism. The network focuses on three neurodegenerative diseases: progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD), and…

Topline data from a Phase 3 clinical trial of buntanetap in early-stage Parkinson’s disease patients is expected soon, according to Annovis Bio, the therapy’s developer. Initially planned for the end of January, ongoing analysis to ensure “clean data” that are accurate and reliable was cited as the reason…

Scientists at Purdue University are advancing in lab studies multiple small molecule compounds aiming to prevent the protein aggregation associated with Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and type 2 diabetes, and to safely get rid of existing clumps. Protein aggregation is the term for when proteins — usually abnormal or misfolded…

3D “mini-brains,” or brain organoids, derived from people with Parkinson’s disease and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) are now at the International Space Station (ISS) as part of ongoing research in the unique effects of space on the human brain. How brain cells interact in microgravity, a condition…

Coya Therapeutics is expanding the pipeline for its COYA 302 immunotherapy, adding two neurodegenerative disorders — frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Parkinson’s disease — as targets for the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatment candidate. Brain inflammation is known to drive Parkinson’s — and is a mechanism shared…

Scientists have developed a molecule that promotes the clearance of toxic clumps of the alpha-synuclein protein — a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease — by targeting its template rather that the protein itself. “We have found that targeting the RNA needed to build the toxic protein may be an optimal…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given Zydus Lifesciences a green light to conduct a Phase 2 trial of ZYIL1, an oral inhibitor of NLRP3 — a protein that’s linked to brain inflammation, or neuroinflammation — in people with Parkinson’s disease. The trial will evaluate the safety…

Neurocrine Biosciences is opening two Phase 1 clinical trials in healthy adults to test two oral candidate muscarinic receptor agonists intended to treat Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions. Both investigational therapies — called NBI-1117569 and NBI-1117567 — were developed by Sosei Heptares, which licensed…

Members of the Support Group for Black Patients with Parkinson’s Disease took part in the Parkinson Council’s Walk to Stamp Out Parkinson’s event in November and raised more than $3,400, helping the Council to come within 70% of its $400,000 fundraising goal. The support group, which was launched in…