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What We Fund: Brain's Resilience, Asthma Drug for Parkinson's and Signs of Disease in the Eye

What We Fund: Brain's Resilience, Asthma Drug for Parkinson's and Signs of Disease in the Eye

The Michael J. Fox Foundation funds promising Parkinson's disease (PD) science to ensure new ideas flow into the pipeline and drive urgently needed breakthroughs for people living with the disease. Through open funding programs and staff-directed grants, the Foundation speeds efforts to grow our understanding of Parkinson's biology and clinical experience, measure PD pathology and progression, and develop therapies to alleviate symptoms and slow or stop disease.

In the second quarter of 2018, we funded projects targeting new treatments ranging from engineered immune cells to personalized speech therapy as well as efforts to improve or repurpose existing therapies. Other studies we funded aimed to predict disease progression, and we also supported studies of novel ways to diagnose and measure Parkinson's. Click through from the links below to read more on these projects.

We covered some of these projects in our recent "Ask the PhD" video covering studies funded through our biannual call for applications.

For a full list of MJFF-supported projects, visit our funded grants page.

Developing New Therapies
Therapies to slow or stop disease progression or to better manage symptoms, such as speech difficulties, aim to improve the quality of life of people living with PD.

Rethinking Existing Therapies
Whether adapting an asthma drug for the treatment of PD or analyzing an existing Parkinson's treatment, researchers are advancing treatments on multiple fronts.

Searching for Therapeutic Targets
The complexity of Parkinson's disease stands in the way of finding cure. Researchers continue to study mitochondria (cell's powerhouses) and other proteins as targets for future therapeutics.

Studying Possible Disease Causes or Contributors
While the exact cause of Parkinson's is unknown, research points to a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Aside from primary disease causes, many factors can speed or slow disease progression. Researchers aim to explain their contribution to Parkinson's disease.

Predicting Dementia
People with Parkinson's disease are at risk for developing dementia, a decline in memory, thinking and/or language abilities severe enough to interfere with daily life. Researchers are searching for predictors of dementia and developing tests to identify those most at risk.

Discovering Novel Ways to Measure Parkinson's
There is a great need for objective tests for Parkinson's, which would facilitate diagnosis and help track disease progression and response to treatment. The ongoing search for objective measures of disease -- biomarkers -- continues to produce promising candidates.

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Anna Boyum, PhD, is a freelance writer and editor.

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