News

Scientists have developed tiny sensors that allow the high-resolution detection of dopamine — the brain chemical messenger progressively lost in people with Parkinson’s disease — in nerve cells grown in the lab. “These sensors visualise the release of dopamine from nerve cells with unprecedented resolution,” according to…

NRG Therapeutics has received a £2.68M (about $3.4 million) award to support preclinical work into small molecule disease-modifying therapies for neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s disease. The two-year Biomedical Catalyst award given the company is for early stage research in treatments to protect mitochondria in the brain, and is partly funded…

Stem cells in the lab were turned into nerve cells (neurons) that can make dopamine — the chemical that is lacking in patients with Parkinson’s disease — and transferred into the brain of rats with a form of parkinsonism, where they worked to restore lost motor function, a study…

UCB, a global pharmaceutical company, is looking for men and women with early-stage Parkinson’s disease who want to take part in a Phase 2 clinical study that will test UCB0599, an investigational small molecule that prevents alpha-synuclein protein from folding into a wrong shape and building up to…

Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics reported that it has developed, using stem cells from people with Parkinson’s disease, dopaminergic neurons containing two common, disease-associated mutations for use in Parkinson’s research. Stem cell donors were patients involved in the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) through the Michael J. Fox Foundation…

Blood levels of c-reactive protein (CRP) and the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), two indicators of systemic inflammation, were associated with the presence of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (RBD) in people with Parkinson’s disease, a study found. Patients with RBD also had worse cognition than those who did…

Researchers have developed a new suppressor of cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) — an enzyme whose activity is associated with neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative conditions — that can robustly enter the brain and appears to be more potent than previous, similar molecules. When injected into the bloodstream, the new molecule, named 25-106,…

The European Patent Office (EPO) has nominated a 22-year-old woman for its inaugural Young Inventors prize in recognition of her artificial intelligence (AI)-powered app that can detect Parkinson’s disease early through facial expressions and might assist in work toward better Parkinson’s treatments. Erin Smith of San Francisco is…

Accidental falls and co-existing conditions, or comorbidities, like fatigue, depression, and sleeping problems are frequent in older adults with either Parkinson’s disease or essential tremor syndrome, suggesting “similar central origins” for these two disorders, a study reported. Its data also support essential tremor being found in older Parkinson’s patients, and Parkinson’s in those…

A prior COVID-19 infection in mice increased their susceptibility to nerve cell loss caused by MPTP, a neurotoxin known to cause symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, according to a recent study. The findings suggest that while COVID-19 alone likely does not cause Parkinson’s, it may make nerve cells more sensitive…