APDA awards $2.6M to support Parkinson’s research projects
American Parkinson Disease Association increases funding by over 30%
The American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA) has awarded a total of $2.6 million for the 2024-2025 funding year, to support a range of research projects that aim to advance understanding of Parkinson’s disease.
The nationwide grassroots network increased its funding package by more than 30% over last year, the nonprofit noted in a press release announcing the new research grant recipients.
Research areas range from brain changes behind cognitive impairment to genetic causes of Parkinson’s, to health disparities among underrepresented patient communities. Other projects will seek to discover new insights into how the neurodegenerative disease develops and can be treated.
“At APDA, we believe in the power of progress and the hope it brings to the Parkinson’s community,” said Leslie A. Chambers, the APDA’s president and CEO. “We are immensely proud to play a pivotal role in advancing these groundbreaking projects that might otherwise never take flight, and in doing so, we continue to bring hope to everyone impacted by Parkinson’s.”
APDA funding aims to serve as catalyst for future larger grants
Approximately 1 million people in the U.S. have Parkinson’s, with 90,000 new diagnoses each year, according to the APDA, which calls research essential for ultimately improving treatment. The nonprofit says its mission is to support new researchers with initial funding, helping them gather data to then secure further financial backing.
“By providing essential seed funding, we empower researchers to explore innovative ideas and gather critical pilot data. This early support often acts as a catalyst, enabling them to secure larger grants from prestigious institutions like the National Institutes of Health,” Chambers said.
One of APDA’s most prestigious awards is the George C. Cotzias Memorial Fellowship, given to a young neurologist for three years. This year’s awardee, William Zeiger, MD, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles, will use a mouse model of the disease to study how Parkinson’s impairs brain circuits involved in cognition. The award is $100,000 for each of the three years for salary and supporting research expenses.
With its Diversity in Parkinson’s Disease Research Grants, the APDA funds projects that address health disparities. Three awards were given this year to young investigators to advance their work:
- Ignacio Mata, PhD, of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, is developing a machine-learning model to predict uncontrolled movements, a side effect of long-term treatment with levodopa, in Latino patients.
- Melissa Nirenberg, PhD, of the Bronx Veterans Medical Research Foundation in New York, will investigate how Parkinson’s manifests in Black and Hispanic former military service members.
- Danielle Shpiner, MD, of the Miller School of Medicine at the University of Miami, is working to improve care access for Hispanic patients.
A post-doctoral fellowship was been awarded to Andrew Monaghan, PhD, at Emory University in Atlanta, who is studying brain circuits involved in walking difficulties in people with Parkinson’s. At the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Yuxiao Ning, PhD, another post-doctoral fellowship awardee, will watch how the brain changes during deep brain stimulation — a surgical treatment for Parkinson’s.
Donghe Yang, PhD, of the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, also was awarded a post-doctoral fellowship. Yang will unravel how to develop dopaminergic neurons — the nerve cells that are lost in Parkinson’s — from stem cells.
Two other fellowships went to Brianne Rogers, PhD, of the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Alabam, and Carlos Soto-Faguás, PhD, of the Oregon Health and Science University. Both of these scientists will investigate genes and mutations involved in Parkinson’s.
Over $1 million will go to nonprofit’s 9 Centers for Advanced Research
The APDA also funds innovative research into Parkinson’s being done by scientists at major academic institutions. This year, eight researchers were given such awards:
- Patricia Aguilar Calvo, PhD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Athanasios Alexandris, MD, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- Saar Anis, MD, of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation
- Helen Hwang, MD, PhD, of the Washington University School of Medicine
- Francesca Magrinelli, MD, PhD, at the University College London Institute of Neurology
- Franchino Porciuncula, of Boston University
- Emily Rocha, PhD, from the University of Pittsburgh
- Mariangela Scarduzio, PhD, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The nonprofit also continues to support its Centers for Advanced Research, which drive large research programs and late-stage clinical translation. This year, a new center was funded at Yale School of Medicine, adding to a list of eight other centers already funded by the APDA. Together the centers were awarded more than $1 million for 2024-2025.
We have an incredible responsibility to the Parkinson’s community to choose the research that shows the most promise for real progress, as well as a responsibility to our donors to make sure every dollar counts in the search for answers.
Rebecca Gilbert, MD, PhD, chief mission officer at APDA, noted that the organization’s scientific advisory board considered numerous “excellent” applications and “had to make tough choices” in making its funding awards.
“We have an incredible responsibility to the Parkinson’s community to choose the research that shows the most promise for real progress, as well as a responsibility to our donors to make sure every dollar counts in the search for answers,” Gilbert said.
Chambers noted that “this vital work is made possible by the support of our generous APDA donors.”
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