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UK researcher gets funds to stop Parkinson's progression David Yurek, a neurology professor at the UK College of Medicine, received a $66,000 grant to research a treatment for stopping the progression of Parkinson's disease. He received the grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which was started by the actor who was diagnosed with the degenerative disease in 1991.Media Credit: Ed Matthews David Yurek, a neurology professor at the UK College of Medicine, received a $66,000 grant to research a treatment for stopping the progression of Parkinson's disease. He received the grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation, which was started by the actor who was diagnosed with the degenerative disease in 1991. David Yurek has been interested in research for Parkinson's disease since he was a graduate student at the University of Southern California. Now, with the help of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the UK neurology professor will have $66,000 to help him find treatments for the debilitating disease. "The inspiration for his work came from seeing patients with Parkinson's disease," said Anita Fletcher, a scientist in UK neurosurgery who works with Yurek. "He remains passionate not only about the science but also the future implications that his work may have on patients suffering from Parkinson's disease." Yurek's project, titled "Nanoparticle Gene Therapy for Parkinson's Disease," examines a new approach for treating neurodegenerative disorders, particularly Parkinson's, which affects the central nervous system and often impairs motor skills and speech. "This project looks at inserting genes into brain cells so they make proteins crucial for cells to survive," Yurek said. "We're looking for a better way to deliver factors to the brain that stop the progression of the disease." Yurek's laboratory is one of the first to apply this technology to central nervous system disorders. This relatively new gene therapy holds potential to help repair faulty genes, he said. The treatment uses transduction, a technique for boosting a particular gene in a cell by delivering DNA into the cell to produce crucial proteins to combat Parkinson's. "It's not actually curing Parkinson's, it's halting the progression," Yurek said. The treatment technique comes from Copernicus Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company in Ohio that has developed a way to deliver therapies to defective genes. The Michael J. Fox Foundation is "dedicated to ensuring the development of a cure for Parkinson's disease within this decade through an aggressively funded research agenda," according to the foundation's Web site. Yurek submitted his grant proposal to a portion of the foundation that gives a response within weeks. This aspect works toward the foundation's goal of "trying to fund innovative projects that have little preliminary data that might provide not a cure but a treatment for Parkinson's," Yurek said. The award will allow Yurek to follow through with his research to determine if DNA can be compacted into "nanoparticles" to treat cells. In the future, Yurek hopes to do pre-clinical studies for his research at UK and test the treatment on animals. Once the treatment is established in animals, he will be able to apply them to human disorders. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn