Objective/Rationale:
There is a clear need for the development of novel treatments to better manage the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. While current treatments address some of the motor symptoms of the disease, the effectiveness of these treatments wanes over time and is marked by the development of debilitating side effects such as dyskinesia. Mechanisms to rapidly test novel therapeutic strategies are needed to accelerate the development of more effective treatments.
Project Description:
Currently, testing of novel therapeutic approaches can be inefficient and costly. Testing of each hypothesis requires independent development of critical pre-clinical models which adds both cost and time to the drug development process. In this project, the investigators will maintain a “just-in-time” pre-clinical resource that can be made available to interested collaborators for testing novel therapeutic strategies in a time and cost efficient way.
Relevance to Diagnosis/Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease:
This proposed research will accelerate the testing of novel Symptoms & Side Effects and/or anti-dyskinetic strategies for Parkinson’s disease. In addition to maintaining a “just-in-time” pre-clinical resource, the expertise of the investigators will be made available to potential collaborators from academia and industry that are developing new treatments.
Anticipated Outcome:
The project will establish a mechanism for rapid screening and evaluation of improved Symptoms & Side Effects treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers
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J. Willliam Langston, MD