News

In a new approach to drug discovery, seven molecules, or “hits,” that may treat familial Parkinson’s disease were identified in the first open science competition run by the Canadian nonprofit Conscience. Launched with support from the global public-private partnership Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) and a grant from…

3D “mini-brains,” or brain organoids, derived from people with Parkinson’s disease and primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) are now at the International Space Station (ISS) as part of ongoing research in the unique effects of space on the human brain. How brain cells interact in microgravity, a condition…

Shingles, an infectious disease marked by a painful skin rash with blisters, wasn’t associated with an increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study of more than 1 million U.S. veterans. “We showed no evidence of an increased risk of incident [Parkinson’s disease] after [shingles] in a large,…

Reduced activity of the RIT2 gene in a subtype of nerve cells — regardless of  whether they produce dopamine — may be implicated in the development of Parkinson’s disease, according to a study that measured gene activity in more than 300,000 individual brain cells. The protein encoded by RIT2…

Coya Therapeutics is expanding the pipeline for its COYA 302 immunotherapy, adding two neurodegenerative disorders — frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Parkinson’s disease — as targets for the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatment candidate. Brain inflammation is known to drive Parkinson’s — and is a mechanism shared…

The RAZ Memory Cell Phone will allow people with impaired speech, including those with Parkinson’s disease, to speak using their own voice during video phone calls and be fully understood. The speech recognition technology was developed by Voiceitt, a voice AI and machine learning company, in partnership…

A new test that can detect extremely small concentrations of clumped alpha-synuclein may help to detect Parkinson’s disease and related disorders in early stages. The test, reportedly able to spot single protein fibrils, was described in the study, “Toward the quantification of [alpha]-synuclein aggregates with digital…

Phosphorylated alpha-synuclein, a modified form of the protein that forms toxic clumps in the brains of people with Parkinson’s disease and related disorders, appears to play an important role in the normal function of nerve cells, a study shows. When it’s modified, alpha-synuclein binds…

A new brain imaging method may help diagnose mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), which according to some studies can be associated with a 50% higher risk of developing Parkinson’s. Available methods, like magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), leave most cases of mTBI, or concussions, undiagnosed. They occur when a physical…

Scientists have developed a molecule that promotes the clearance of toxic clumps of the alpha-synuclein protein — a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease — by targeting its template rather that the protein itself. “We have found that targeting the RNA needed to build the toxic protein may be an optimal…