Parkinson’s podcast: Stopping disease progression – growth factors

November’s podcast looks at the effectiveness of the disease-modifying treatment that use growth factors

Building on an earlier episode that looked at alpha synuclein in stopping disease progression, hosts Dave Iverson and Jon Palfreman discuss the latest research on growth factors with special guest, Dr Jeffrey Kordower.

Once a promising disease-modifying strategy, recent research now suggests that the impact of growth factors to revive weakened dopamine neurons may be reduced.

Dr Kordower lends his expertise to examine evidence suggesting that at diagnosis the neural damage may be so advanced that there may not be many neurons left to rescue.

The aim of the Portland Countdown series is to give listeners new perspectives on the latest advances in Parkinson’s research and treatment.

The shows, developed by the World Parkinson Coalition, are aired online on the first Tuesday of every month from June 2015 to September 2016 – when the 4th World Parkinson Congress takes place in Portland, Oregon, US. The podcasts are free and available for download.

The full schedule of show topics and guest speaker profiles is available here