Parkinson’s podcast: stopping disease progression

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Author: Geoffrey ChangPublished: 9 July 2015

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In the second episode of the Portland Countdown podcast series, Dr Patrik Brundin and Dr Kimberley Gannon discuss how to stop ‘bad’ proteins attacking brain cells

Stopping disease progression: alpha synuclein

Special Guests: Patrik Brundin, MD, PhD and Kimberley Gannon, PhD

Basic researchers are hard at work trying to understand the pathology of Parkinson’s and discover new drug targets. One likely bad actor is a protein called alpha-synuclein.

Hosted by Dave Iverson and Jon Palfreman, Emmy award-winning journalists living with Parkinson’s disease, this episode looks into what we know about how alpha-synuclein kills brain cells and what might be done to stop it, with Dr Patrik Brundin and Dr Kimberley Gannon on hand to offer their expert opinions.

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, USA. The entire series of podcasts will also be downloadable for free.

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

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The Michael J Fox Foundation has launched the ‘Ken Griffin Alpha-synuclein Imaging Competition’ – a US $10 million programme aiming to develop a game-changing tool for Parkinson’s research. As part of the competition, participating teams will compete in a scientific race to build a device that is able to identify alpha-synuclein – a protein closely associated with Parkinson’s. Although almost everyone diagnosed with Parkinson’s has clumps of alpha-synuclein in the brain, these are currently only visible when analysing tissue during autopsies. The competition is named after Ken Griffin, CEO of US investment firm Citadel who has given US $7.5 million funding to the programme. Griffin – whose father has Parkinson’s – said: “If we have the imaging capability to observe the pathology that arises from protein-misfolding in real time, and understand how drugs are impacting people in real time, that would be a major advance.”

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Parkinson’s podcast: stopping disease progression

Resources & Tools

Author: Geoffrey ChangPublished: 9 July 2015

Prep: Cook: Serves:

Last Month

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Global update

Australian campaigners get moving for Parkinson’s

Europe

Walk with Copenhagen

Health & Fitness

Parkinson’s ‘bootcamp’ puts patients through their paces

Musical therapy study to receive $20 million in funding

Researchers develop automated system to diagnose Parkinson’s

MJFF announces $10 million competition for Parkinson’s

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Parkinson’s podcast: stopping disease progression

Resources & Tools

Author: Geoffrey ChangPublished: 9 July 2015

Prep: Cook: Serves:

Last Month

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Share this story

Comments

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Global update

Australian campaigners get moving for Parkinson’s

Europe

Walk with Copenhagen

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Parkinson’s ‘bootcamp’ puts patients through their paces

Musical therapy study to receive $20 million in funding

Researchers develop automated system to diagnose Parkinson’s

MJFF announces $10 million competition for Parkinson’s

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