News

Genetic Mutation in Familial Parkinson’s Traced to Its Target

Researchers have discovered the cellular role and target of the most common genetic cause of Parkinson’s disease: LRRK2 kinase mutations. The study, “Phosphoproteomics reveals that Parkinson’s disease kinase LRRK2 regulates a subset of Rab GTPases,” was published in eLife. Parkinson’s disease is not generally considered a genetic…

Impaired Movement in Parkinson’s Traced to Faulty Circuits in Brain Stem

Researchers from the Gladstone Institutes published two research papers detailing what appears to be the mechanisms behind imbalances in specific brain regions that cause the movement and walking difficulties experienced by Parkinson’s patients. The papers appeared in the journals Cell and Neuron. Faulty dopamine production is one of the hallmarks of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and has…

Parkinson’s Might Be Treatable via Stem Cell Therapy

Interest in the potential of stem cell therapy to treat a variety of neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s disease (PD), has been growing for several years, but the question remains: how close are these treatments to clinical use? A new article in the journal Acta Neurologica Scandinavica explored whether stem cell…

Glove-like Device May Counter Parkinson-caused Hand Tremors

GyroGear, a medical device invention and development company currently based at Imperial College London, is developing an assistive device for Parkinson’s disease patients called the GyroGlove that is intended to stabilize and improve hand movement. GyroGlove development is the current central focus of the GyroGear group,whose  development team of engineers, designers and medics…