Michael J. Fox Foundation Awards Over $2 Million for Validation of 10 Parkinson's Therapeut...( NEW YORK July 14 -- The ...),Health

NEW YORK, July 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research today announced approximately $2.1 million in total funding to 10 research teams working to validate therapeutic targets for Parkinson's disease.

Target validation is an essential and historically underresourced phase of drug development in which researchers work to determine whether a molecule or mechanism of interest is a true drug target. While researchers have continued to identify novel targets in recent years through genetic, biochemical and epidemiological studies, a lack of funding for validation studies has long been a major roadblock to the efficient translation of these discoveries into practical therapies that benefit people living with PD.

The Foundation's Target Validation initiative, one of MJFF's Edmond J. Safra Core Programs for PD Research, provides intellectual and financial resources to help push potential PD drug targets one step closer to clinical trials and Parkinson's patients.

Funded projects are listed below. Detailed information, including grant abstracts and researcher bios, is available on the Foundation's Searchable Database of Funded Grants.

As with all MJFF grants, full funding is dependent on the achievement of predetermined, specific milestones and on researchers' agreement to make the results of their work available to the Parkinson's research community.

The transcription factor Nrf2 as a target to reduce neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation in Parkinson's disease

Antonio Cuadrado, PhD, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain

Neuroprotection by P
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