Parkinson Disease news from FierceBioResearcher

In new work that has both political as well as scientific implications, a team of scientists has been able to Read more...

Scientists in Singapore are advocating new rules that would permit researchers to splice human DNA into animals to further stem cell research. The development of human/animal chimeras would allow Read more...

A small gene therapy study involving a handful of Parkinson's patients has produced impressive data indicating that they may be on to a potential breakthrough. Scientists at New York University used Read more...

In the interest of making more and better human stem cells for research, U.K. regulators have approved the creation of short-lived human/animal hybrid embryos. Only tiny fragments of animal DNA will Read more...

Finnish researchers at the University of Helsinki say they have found and tested a new molecule that can help slow or reverse the symptoms of Parkinson's. The protein protects and repairs cells that Read more...

Stem Cell Research About a dozen different companies are racing to take the lead in using stem cells to treat heart disease. Read more...

A team of scientists say they have developed a drug that blocks the SIRT2 enzyme, which protects the neurons damaged by Parkinson's disease. In an article to come out this week in the journal Science, researchers at Harvard show how inhibition of SIRT2--a member of the sirtuin family, which is linked to aging--prevents the toxicity of the protein aggregates that are believed to be behind the neuronal death characteristic of PD. Contrary to "classic" approaches that try to …

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After a huge outcry from scientists and patient groups, the U.K. has proposed legislation allowing the development of human/animal chimera embryos for research. Public Health had proposed banning the chimeras, triggering an outburst from critics who maintain the embryos are crucial for research into Parkinson's and other maladies. The animal/human embryos can be used in place of human eggs, which are often difficult to come by. The substitute is made by removing an animal cell nucleus and …

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Northwestern University researcher Samuel Stupp has presented the results of a study in which he injected nanomaterials into the severed spinal cords of mice, allowing them to walk again after several weeks of therapy. The nanomaterials he used were designed to self-assemble into nanofibers which repaired damaged neurons. The research offers new insights into the near-term research potential of nanotechnology and offers hope for patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's who suffer from …

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Cynthia T. McMurray, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology at the Mayo Clinic, led a research team which has shed new light on the way Huntington's disease develops and how it might eventually be treated or cured. The neurodegenerative disease is triggered by an extra segment of the huntingtin gene that expands and produces a destructive protein that afflicts the brain when it grows too large. The researchers determined that the segment grows when cells try to eliminate oxidative lesions. …

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