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Using a laboratory model of Parkinson’s disease, researchers have shown how abnormal α-synuclein aggregates gradually spread from an area involved in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD) to other regions of the brain that are eventually damaged by the disease. The study, “Widespread transneuronal propagation of α-synucleinopathy…

Most scientists who study brain conditions such as Parkinson’s naturally focus on the brain, but new research from the Van Andel Research Institute in Michigan shows that the obvious starting point is not the only way to go. In the study “Enrichment of risk SNPs in regulatory regions implicate…

Researchers at two Scottish institutions have identified a new player in the crucial task of removing protein aggregates from the brain — an otherwise flawed process in Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. The new insights into the molecular processes that contribute to protein aggregates that might some day be therapeutically targeted…

In a discovery that might turn out to be a game changer in Parkinson’s research, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers discovered that DNA methylation causes L-DOPA to stop being effective after a few years, instead giving rise to dyskinesia — involuntary jerky movements making life even harder for patients. In…

Researchers have developed a laboratory assay that measures the activity of the mutated LRRK2 gene — the major genetic cause of Parkinson’s disease. The team behind the study “Phos-tag analysis of Rab10 phosphorylation by LRRK2: a powerful assay for assessing kinase function and inhibitors,” published in the Biochemical Journal, believe…

TRANSEURO, a research consortium funded by the European Union, is readying an old weapon for a new round in the struggle to find a long-term treatment for Parkinson’s disease —  transplanted fetal stem cells producing dopamine, a technology researchers attempted 30 years ago. Today, improved methods and a focus on younger patients make TRANSEURO…

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham report that the most common genetic cause of Parkinson’s disease, a mutant form of the LRRK2 enzyme, contributes to the build-up of α-synuclein in neurons — a telltale sign that the nerve cells are destined to die. Published last week in…

The World Federation of Neurology (WFN) has designated July 22 as annual World Brain Day on which the WFN’s 119 national member groups will coordinate to raise awareness of brain health. For 2016, the campaign is focusing especially on “Brain Health and the Aging Population: The Aging Brain,”…

NoTremor, a Parkinson’s disease research project funded by the European Union, is working on developing patient specific computational models of the brain and neuromuscular systems that can be used to improve the quality of Parkinsons disease (PD) analysis and progression monitoring. In particular, the NoTremor team of researchers aims…

Diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s are associated with the formation of large protein aggregates that disrupt a variety of cellular functions. Now, researchers at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT have developed a new system called yeast Transcriptional Reporting of Aggregating Proteins, or yTRAP, that can rapidly screen millions of…