Solving the Parkinson’s Puzzle with Sharon Naismith and Elie Matar

Monday, 1st June 2026

Over 200,000 Australians are currently living with Parkinson’s disease, with a further 38 diagnosed every day. It’s the fastest growing neurological disorder in the world, and there is still no cure. In our ‘Solving the Parkinson’s Puzzle’ series, we speak to leading Australian researchers to find out how their work is helping to slow, stop and ultimately cure Parkinson’s disease.

Shake It Up Australia is pleased to be funding a project at the University of Sydney which is part of an international research program jointly organised by The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) and other non-profits. This program will equip researchers to answer a longstanding question: why are sleep disruptions integral to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s?

“Results from all five studies [in the program] will be informative for all communities affected by neurodegenerative diseases,” said Brian Fiske, Ph.D., MJFF Chief Scientist. “We hope the findings will pave the way for effective interventions that improve the quality of life for patients and their families.”

We spoke with Professor Sharon Naismith and Associate Professor Elie Matar from the University of Sydney about their research into the connection between sleep and Parkinson’s.

What will this research project involve?

In this project, we aim to understand how a small but critically important brain region, the locus coeruleus, influences sleep and brain health as we age. Over approximately two weeks, participants will complete three study visits. The research involves overnight sleep monitoring at home, memory and thinking assessments, and brain imaging. We will also use novel sensory measures, including pupil responses and smell testing. Through blood samples and a very small skin sample, we will be able to relate changes in this brain region to the presence of markers associated with both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s proteins.

What is the ‘locus coeruleus’?

The locus coeruleus is a tiny area deep in the brain that helps to regulate alertness and sleep. It acts almost like a switchboard, helping the brain decide when to wake up, pay attention, or wind down. It plays a pivotal role in managing our sleep architecture and how we consolidate memories. Importantly, it is also one of the very first areas in the brain to show the accumulation of the major abnormal proteins (like tau and alpha-synuclein) associated with early neurodegeneration, making it a crucial area of convergence for understanding conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

Why is it important to understand more about sleep changes?

Sleep is vital for overall health and wellbeing and serves a number of vital functions in the brain. Sleep disturbances are also among the most common symptoms of Parkinson’s and Dementia and affect quality of life of people living with these conditions. There is a lot of work showing sleep may be one of the earliest areas affected by these disorders and therefore may be an early marker of disease. There is also emerging work showing that sleep problems may even contribute to neurodegenerative disease. It has been shown that sleep is important for clearing out metabolic waste from the brain, including proteins like amyloid-beta, alpha-synuclein, and tau.

So, when sleep is disrupted, this critical clearance process may also be impaired, which can contribute to the accumulation of these proteins and potentially accelerate neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.

What do you hope this research will achieve?

Ultimately, we’re trying to better understand how different disease-related changes in this brain region may influence sleep and memory long before symptoms become obvious.

By discovering new, non-invasive ways to measure these functions, and the contributions of different proteins, we want to provide insights that will inform personalised treatments.

Ultimately, the goal is to help develop therapeutics that can boost the brain’s ability to clear toxins, improve sleep neurophysiology, and mitigate memory loss and neurodegeneration in its earliest stages regardless of the disease.

How will this research impact people living with Parkinson’s disease?

Our study specifically recruits individuals who are at risk for Lewy Body Disease, such as those with isolated Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behaviour Disorder (iRBD).

By utilising specialised assessments like skin biopsies to look for early markers (alpha-synuclein), we aim to understand the prodromal, or earliest, stages of these conditions. As a common disease of ageing, many people with Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia also have Alzheimer’s disease changes in the brain.

This study will allow us to understand how the combination of these changes can also affect the symptoms of Parkinson’s early on and allow us to find those people who may benefit from treatments targeted at multiple conditions.

You can support Shake It Up’s vision of a world without Parkinson’s, and help us to propel progress towards new breakthroughs by making a donation before June 30.

100% will go directly to cutting-edge research aiming to slow, stop and cure Parkinson’s disease.