Earlier this month three members of The Michael J. Fox Foundation staff sat with Contributing Editor Dave Iverson to discuss the latest findings and research to better define, measure and treat Parkinson’s disease.

Listen to the Podcast

Dave spoke with Director of Research Programs Marco Baptista, PhD; Deputy CEO Sohini Chowdhury; and Vice President of Medical Communications Rachel Dolhun, MD on a panel in New York City.

Listen in as they discuss new treatments for Parkinson’s which include some exciting initiatives that they are co-funding with Shake It Up at leading institutes in Australia.

These include:

PPMI Study – A international collaboration that is collecting a range of data from patients to find a biomarker for the disease 

Falls and Gait – Hear about the study about to get underway at NEURA using smart vibrating socks to help address freezing of gait in people with Parkinson’s.

Inflammation – An interesting study Shake It up and MJFF co-funded at The University of Queensland has now advanced to a Phase 1 Clinical Trial with results in the lab showing positive results that inflammation can reduce inflammation in the brain.

Repurposed Drugs – early this year we announced our collaboration with The Australian Parkinson’s Mission (APM) which received $30 Million in funding from the Federal Government. The APM will test repurposed drugs in a world-first in Parkinson’s clinical trial design, which means effective treatments can be identified and fast tracked to people with the disease. Sequencing the genome of each patient, the APM will establish the first step toward personalised medicine for Parkinson’s patients and will drive drug discovery in the future.

Recruitment is expected to commence later this year, and you can register your interest to be involved here.