News

Effort integrates digital mobility data for Parkinson’s research

Remote health monitoring company Empatica is partnering with the consortium Mobilise-D to advance the use of digital endpoints in clinical care and research across disorders that include Parkinson’s disease. The collaboration will integrate Mobilise-D’s validated digital mobility outcomes (DMOs) with Empatica’s Health Monitoring Platform. With this,…

Dopamine signaling linked to emotion recognition, study finds

Researchers at the University of Birmingham have shown that reducing dopamine signaling in the brain can impair people’s ability to recognize emotions or understand others’ mental states (mentalizing), symptoms that may be experienced by those with Parkinson’s disease. The study, “Disruption of dopamine D2/D3 system function impairs the…

MJFF, Merck partner on service for biomarker detection in Parkinson’s

Merck, in collaboration with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF), is providing a service to the scientific community to detect low levels of phospho-serine [pS65]-Ub, a biomarker associated with nerve cell dysfunction in people with Parkinson’s disease. The SMCxPRO platform is an ultrasensitive…

Scientists discover how PINK1 pathway activates to protect cells

Scientists at the University of Dundee in Scotland said they have uncovered the mechanisms behind the activation of the PINK1 protein, an enzyme that protects the brain against nerve cell degeneration and the development of Parkinson’s disease. They discovered how PINK1, which detects damage in mitochondria — the cell’s…

High-performance brain imaging may aid diagnosis, treatment

A new ultra-high-performance brain imaging PET system called NeuroEXPLORER allows for the direct imaging of deep regions of the brain, that is, the brain nuclei, and may help diagnose and advance treatments for brain diseases, including Parkinson’s disease. The research was presented at the 2024 Society of Nuclear…

Genetic variants tied to mortality, motor progression in Parkinson’s

Six genetic variants associated with mortality and motor progression have been discovered in people with Parkinson’s disease. These newly detected genetic factors that influenced disease progression were largely different from those that increased Parkinson’s risk, researchers found. “This work will help us to better understand the biology of [Parkinson’s]…