News

Weight loss in Parkinson’s disease patients increases the risks for dementia and dependency care, and reduces patients’ life expectancy, according to a new study. These findings suggest that monitoring weight and timely dietary interventions to counteract weight loss may significantly improve the outcome of Parkinson’s disease patients. The study, “Early…

Women with Parkinson’s disease are less likely to have caregiver support, and are more frequent users of formal, paid caregiver services than male patients. Researchers at Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, who conducted the study, argue that this might be because women tend to live longer…

Researchers at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, have uncovered a molecular mechanism that links Parkinson’s disease and environmental exposure. Their study, “S-Nitrosylation of PINK1 Attenuates PINK1/Parkin-Dependent Mitophagy in hiPSC-Based Parkinson’s Disease Models,” appeared in the journal Cell Reports. It shows that too many reactive nitrogen molecules…

Adding obstacle-avoiding virtual reality training to treadmill workouts dramatically decreases Parkinson’s patients’ falls, even in later stages of the disease, a Tel Aviv University study shows. The research, “Disparate effects of training on brain activation in Parkinson disease,” was published in the journal Neurology. Parkinson’s causes the gradual loss…

Synpromics and University College London are working together to create non-naturally-occurring DNA combinations that can be used to develop a gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease. Every gene requires a naturally occurring combination of DNA known as a promoter to code and produce a protein. Synpromics and UCL will develop synthetic promoters…

Patients with moderate-to-severe Parkinson’s disease who received human neural stem cells in their brain as part of a Phase 1 trial are performing better at six months than they were at the start of the study. Also, all patients are meeting the trial’s primary goal of safety, according to a…

A nanowired delivery of cerebrolysin and mesenchymal stem cells was found to have marked neuroprotective effects in a Parkinson’s disease model, concludes a study presented Nov. 14 at the Neuroscience 2017 meeting in Washington, D.C. The abstract, “Traumatic brain injury exacerbates Parkinson’s disease neuropathology. Neuroprotective effects of co-administration of TiO2 nanowired…

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) has awarded $600,000 to Rodin Therapeutics to advance new research in Parkinson’s disease. One of the most prominent features in Parkinson’s is the loss of dopaminergic neurons in a brain regions called substantia nigra. These cells produce dopamine, the chemical messenger that coordinates…

A two-year collaboration between British neuroscientists and chemists has led to a new fluorescent dye that’s less toxic than other dyes on the market. The new tool will help researchers understand the mechanisms underlying many neurological diseases, including Parkinson’s. Scientists at England’s Keele University in Staffordshire and Newcastle University in Newcastle upon…

Voyager Therapeutics announced it’s recruiting participants for the company’s new Phase 1 clinical trial to test a new approach for their gene therapy VY-AADC01 in Parkinson’s disease patients. The company has also released updates to its ongoing Phase 1b trial testing VY-AADC01 and highlighted its preclinical programs focusing on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis,…