Sitala is a biotech company driving translational research into new therapies that will block harmful inflammation to help people living with Parkinson’s disease. Sitala was founded by Professor Matt Cooper, the co-founder of Inflazome which was sold to Roche in September 2020 for AUS $620 million. Shake It Up and The Michael J. Fox Foundation were early funders of Professor Cooper’s Inflazome research at the University of Queensland.

Shake It Up has funded significant research in Australia on the harmful effect chronic inflammation has on the brain in people living with Parkinson’s. Dysfunction of immune cells such as microglia and astrocytes in the brain leads to the production of inflammatory molecules. These stop immune cells from clearing toxins in the brain and accelerate neurodegeneration.

Shake It Up has chosen to become an early investor in Sitala rather than a donor as we feel confident that Professor Cooper’s research will make significant progress in delivering improved treatments to slow and stop disease progression in Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. This strategy will ensure that any return on this investment will be reinvested into further cutting-edge Australian Parkinson’s research in the future.