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Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research Commits up to $2 million to Visualize Alpha-Synuclein Protein in the Brain
Date:6/3/2008

Funding to be issued under second round of Critical Challenges in Parkinson's Disease initiative

NEW YORK, June 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research is committing up to $2 million to develop and test non-invasive imaging technologies that would allow scientists to visualize pathological clumping of the PD-implicated protein alpha-synuclein in the living brain. Such techniques hold potential to serve as critically needed biomarkers to improve diagnosis and speed the development of treatments with potential to slow or stop the disease from progressing.

The funding is available to academic and industry researchers under the Foundation's Critical Challenges in Parkinson's Disease program, a key tactic in MJFF's ongoing quest to do whatever it takes to speed development of transformative treatments and a cure for Parkinson's disease. Critical Challenges is emblematic of the Foundation's urgent work to identify and prioritize research questions whose answers hold the greatest potential to move the dial on the development of better treatments and a cure for PD.

Alpha-synuclein is a major constituent of Lewy bodies, protein clumps that are the pathological hallmark of PD. The protein's function in the normal brain and the specific role it may play in PD remain unclear. It is believed that alpha-synuclein pathology (including clumping) may predate the onset of motor dysfunction in people with PD.

"Non-invasive technologies allowing scientists to observe alpha-synuclein pathology in the living Parkinson's brain could transform the landscape of PD research," said Katie Hood, MJFF CEO. "This program is a natural complement to our ongoing work to drive development of a PD biomarker to improve diagnosis and speed development of disease-modifying therapies."

In the absence of a known PD biomarker, Ms. Hood added, diagnosis of Parkinson's is subjective. Even a movement disorders specialist can
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SOURCE Michael J. Fox Foundation
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