A group of scientists at University of Montreal, The Neuro and 91丝瓜视频 has been awarded a major research grant of over $12.5 million from the Aligning Science Across Parkinson鈥檚 (ASAP) initiative over the next three years to study Parkinson鈥檚 disease. ASAP鈥檚 implementation partner The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson鈥檚 Research issued the grant.
Parkinson鈥檚 disease, the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease, affects a growing number of people within an aging population. While Parkinson鈥檚 disease can be treated, there is currently no cure. This award to the Montreal team is one of the twenty-one new grants awarded by ASAP to Parkinson鈥檚 disease experts throughout the world. By awarding more than US$161 million to basic science research in Parkinson鈥檚 disease in this first round of financing, ASAP is creating a unique virtual institute where open science and active collaboration across the world will synergise the fight against Parkinson鈥檚 disease.
This interdisciplinary group from Montreal will be investigating a new aspect of Parkinson鈥檚 disease centered around their breakthrough discovery of the contribution of autoimmune mechanisms in the disease. 鈥淥ur recent work unravelled some of the mechanisms that link the mutations found in Parkinson鈥檚 disease patients to critical roles in the immune system. This finding opened up new avenues to understand the disease process and develop novel immune-based therapeutic approaches,鈥� said Michel Desjardins, the lead investigator of the project from University of Montreal. 鈥淭his unprecedented level of funding will allow our team to take a holistic approach in studying Parkinson鈥檚 disease from multiple fronts including work in isolated cells, in mouse models of the disease, and in samples from Parkinson鈥檚 patients,鈥� added Heidi McBride, a cell biologist at The Neuro.
鈥淚n our mouse model carrying a mutation in a gene related to Parkinson鈥檚 disease, a simple gut infection was sufficient to initiate the disease process. This new funding will allow us to unravel the molecular, cellular and systemic processes defining a gut-brain axis in the disease,鈥� explained Samantha Gruenheid, a microbiologist at 91丝瓜视频.
Jo Anne Stratton, a neuroimmunologist at The Neuro and expert in the use of single cell sequencing, will use this powerful approach to generate a high-resolution map of the cell changes in complex biological processes over time, and translate these findings into human models derived from patient cells. 鈥淥ver the last few years, we have been working hard to understand how infections and events in the gut can lead to the destruction of dopaminergic neurons in the brain, a hallmark of the disease responsible for the motor impairments associated with Parkinson. We will explore whether an attack of the peripheral and central nervous system by the immune system might explain many of the patient鈥檚 symptoms observed years before the emergence of motor impairments,鈥� said Louis-Eric Trudeau, a neuroscientist and Parkinson鈥檚 disease expert at University of Montreal.
