Author: Simon

I am the Director of Research at Cure Parkinson's. Before that I was working as a Parkinson's research scientist at the University of Cambridge where I conducted both clinical- and lab-based research on Parkinson's. I have worked in the Parkinson's research field for over 15 years - both academically and in biotech ventures. All of my views/opinions expressed here are solely my own, and may not reflect the views of my employer or associated parties.

Can shaking hands fix shaking hands?

~ Simon ~ 4 Comments

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Novel treatments for Parkinson’s are being proposed on a regular basis, and I really like the way many are based on some pretty left field ideas (light buckets, I’m thinking of you here). Thinking outside the box is important to innovation and progress.

And some of those unconventional approaches are backed not only by historical precedent, but also scientific research. 

Recently, researchers at Stanford University have presented just such an idea: It involves vibrating gloves. 

In today’s post, we will explore what research has been conducted on vibrating hands in Parkinson’s, and discuss what comes next.

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Jean-Martin Charcot. Source: Wikipedia

There are few figures in the history of neurology as revered as Jean-Martin Charcot.

Widely considered the ‘Father of neurology’ and the ‘Napoleon of the neuroses‘, the importance of Charcot’s contribution to modern medicine is definitely not up for debate. One only needs to read the names of the students that he taught at the Salpêtrière Hospital (in Paris) to appreciate that everyone who became someone in the field of neurology passed through his classes.

Those names include Sigmund Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis), Joseph Babinski, Pierre Janet, Pierre Marie, Albert Londe, Charles-Joseph Bouchard, Georges Gilles de la Tourette (he of Tourette syndrome), Alfred Binet (inventor of the first intelligence test), and Albert Pitres.

The mere fact that these students of Charcot all have Wikipedia pages should speak volumes to his impact on the field. Heck, even the great William James – one of the founding fathers of Psychology – travelled all the way from America just to sit in on Charcot’s classes.

Charcot was one of the most sought-after instructors in all of Europe, and he is immortalised in a painting by André Brouillet:

Une_leçon_clinique_à_la_Salpêtrière

“Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière“ by André Brouillet (Source: Wikipedia)

Cool. But what does monsieur Charcot have to do with Parkinson’s?

Continue reading “Can shaking hands fix shaking hands?” →

Monthly Research Review – November 2022

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At the end of each month the SoPD writes a post which provides an overview of some of the major pieces of Parkinson’s-related research that were made available during November 2022.

The post is divided into 10 parts based on the type of research:

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So, what happened during November 2022?

In world news:

November 11th – The cryptocurrency exchange FTX (once valued at $18 billion) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, in a collapse that affected the entire cryptocurrency environment.

 

November 15th – the world’s population of humans reached 8 billion.

November 16th – NASA launches Artemis 1, the first uncrewed mission of its Space Launch System, the most powerful rocket ever to reach orbit. The onboard Orion capsule orbits the Moon before returning to Earth, as a demonstration of planned human missions. The image below is of the far side of the moon visible beyond the Orion spacecraft on the  21st November:

 

November 29th – Biotech companies Eisai and Biogen published the results of their Phase 3 study of Lecanemab. They reported that it “reduced markers of amyloid in early Alzheimer’s disease and resulted in moderately less decline on measures of cognition and function than placebo at 18 months but was associated with adverse events” (Click here to read more about this).

 

November 30th – OpenAI released a prototype of an artificial intelligence chatbot called ChatGPT, capable of answering questions and write essays in real time…. is this the end of the Science of PD?

In the world of Parkinson’s research, a great deal of new research and news was reported:

In November 2022, there were 901 research articles added to the Pubmed website with the tag word “Parkinson’s” attached (9785 for all of 2022 so far). In addition, there was a wave to news reports regarding various other bits of Parkinson’s research activity (clinical trials, etc).

The top 5 pieces of Parkinson’s news

Continue reading “Monthly Research Review – November 2022” →

The trans-omics of -omics

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“Precision medicine” is an emerging model of therapeutic intervention in which treatment options are tailored to a specific subtype of a condition or even on an individual patient-based metric that involves an intergrated analysis of his/her comprehensive “-omics” data.

Many different methods of stratifying patients have been proposed and many of them involve adding the word “-omics” to the end of their labels. But these efforts may start to pay big dividends in clinical trials exploring potentially disease modifying therapies in the not too distant future, including in the case of Parkinson’s.

In today’s post, we will look at one such clinical study exploring better patient stratification in Parkinson’s.

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The original “Make America Great Again”. Source: NYTimes

I think it all started with Ronald Regan.

But I’m not really too sure.

Or more specifically, not Reagan himself, but rather the 1980s conservative radio broadcaster Paul Harvey.

Paul Harvey. Source: Youtube

You see, Harvey was the person who apparently came up with the portmanteau “Reaganomics“. People liked the play on words and thought that it was a clever little label to explain a rather complex subject. But the name kicked off a barrage of imitators with every man and his dog coming up with their own version of -omics.

And scientists really got carried away with the adoption of different kinds of -omics. Every field of research it seems has continuously been inventing new “-omics”. There’s even a wikipedia page for all the different kinds of -omics, and their use has changed our speecheomics (and yes, that really is an actual word).

I am used your posts having odd starting points, but where exactly is this intro going?

Well, I needed to introduce that idea of “-omics” in order for the rest of this post to work.

Oh I see. So what do we mean by -omics?

Continue reading “The trans-omics of -omics” →

Disease modification-ish

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Semantics matters – particularly regarding our communication on ideas like “disease modification” for neurodegenerative conditions.

There is a big difference between “disease eradication” (zero worldwide incidence), “disease correction” (the halting/reversing of progression) and “disease modification” (improving the trajectory of disease).

Recently, researchers in Japan have demonstrated “disease modification” in motor neuron disease with a form of vitamin B12.

In today’s post, we will review this new research and discuss how it could be relevant to Parkinson’s.

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Source: LexFridman

During labourious household chores (think: washing the dishes, hanging laundry, or spending time with my daughter), I am usually listening to an audiobook or podcast. One favourite podcast is that of Dr Lex Fridman – an AI researchers at MIT who interviews interesting individuals and discusses a broad range of topics (from neuroscience to weird stuff like aliens, and the meaning of life often gets dragged in as well).

In episode #158, Lex spoke with Zev Weinstein (15 year old son of Prof Eric Weinstein) and I was really struck with how eloquently this young man spoke about philosophy and science, but also the communication of ideas.

Source: Youtube

And at one point in the discussion, Zev said: “Many underestimate the extent to which language and communication really impacts and shapes the ideas and thoughts that are being communicated, and I think if we are willing to accept imperfect labels to categorize particular people or thoughts, in some sense we are corrupting an abstraction in order to represent it and communicate about it. And I think, as we have discussed, those abstractions are particularly important when everything is on fire” – Zev Weinstein (18.03 minutes into the video). The interview occurred in early 2021 around the events of 6th January, hence the “everything on fire” reference.

But the words on “corrupting an abstraction in order to represent it and communicate about it” resonated with me.

And it got me thinking.

Thinking about what?

Continue reading “Disease modification-ish” →

Monthly Research Review – October 2022

~ Simon ~ 1 Comment

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At the end of each month the SoPD writes a post which provides an overview of some of the major pieces of Parkinson’s-related research that were made available during October 2022.

The post is divided into 10 parts based on the type of research:

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So, what happened during October 2022?

In world news:

6th October – An open source platform (called “MatchMiner“) which matches genomically profiled cancer patients to precision medicine drug trials is presented (Click here and here to read more about this).

 

7th October –  Neuroscientists report experimental MRI results suggesting that brain functions operate non-classically and their data may support the idea of quantum mechanisms being involved in consciousness as the signal pattern declined when human participants fell asleep (Click here to read more about this).

 

16th-23rd October – The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is held. Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party by the Central Committee, beginning a third term as the leader of China.

 

20th October – UK Prime Minister Liz Truss resigned after 45 days in the role.

 

28th October – Elon Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter.

 

In the world of Parkinson’s research, a great deal of new research and news was reported:

In October 2022, there were 902 research articles added to the Pubmed website with the tag word “Parkinson’s” attached (9786 for all of 2022 so far). In addition, there was a wave to news reports regarding various other bits of Parkinson’s research activity (clinical trials, etc).

The top 5 pieces of Parkinson’s news

Continue reading “Monthly Research Review – October 2022” →

The radiologist at a Parkinson’s conference

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In 2015, a woman with dementia was sitting in hospice care, wheelchair-bound and largely non-communicative. As part of a research project, she was given repeated computed tomography (CT) scans of her brain.

The effect of this seemingly harmless treatment was rather astonishing, and it has led to more research exploring the effect of low dose ionizing radiation on neurodegenerative conditions.

Including Parkinson’s.

In today’s post, we will discuss what low dose ionizing radiation is, what research has been conducted thus far, and what could be happening in the brain to explain the effect.

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Source: Linkedin

During the lunch break of a recent research conference and desiring some ‘alone time’, I approached a table toward the back of the conference center.

There was only one other inhabitant of this oasis of solitude and after asking if they minded if I sat there (“Please” they gestured), I sat down. A moment or two later, a polite conversation was started. It was innocent enough (“Enjoying the conference?“) but this quickly shifted to specifics (Me asking “So what area of the research is of most interest to you?“).

And this was where the rabbit hole began.

You see, my table companion explained that they had trained as a radiologist – this is a group of doctors that specialise in diagnosing and treating injuries/diseases using medical imaging.

And upon being told their occupation, I asked if they were interested in the research exploring diagnostic imaging for Parkinson’s.

Their answer was: “Well, yes, but I’m more interested in using the imaging therapeutically“.

To which, my facial expression must have shifted towards something like:

My table companion was amused by the expression on my face and added that they lived locally and they were curious about the research being done on Parkinson’s. But more specifically, they were interested to know if anyone was investigating low-dose ionizing radiation as a potential therapeutic treatment.

My facial confusion must have become somewhat more exaggerated at that point, and so they gave me the background history and context to their reason for interest.

It was a fascinating story.

What did they say?

Continue reading “The radiologist at a Parkinson’s conference” →

A nod to immunomod with fingolimod

~ Simon ~ 6 Comments

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In general, your immune system does a truly amazing job of keeping you healthy and the dangerous pathogenic world around us at bay.

Trillions of cells constantly monitoring for viruses and other illness-causing agents, and ruthlessly disposing of any that they actually find. But sometimes your immune system can get a little carried away with this task and researchers have developed medications that turn down the volume of immune system activity.

Recently, researchers have reported new data that points towards a particular class of immune cells (lymphocytes) in Parkinson’s, and they have also identified a pathway that could be targeted therapeutically.

In today’s post, we will discuss what lymphocytes are and consider new data highlighting an immunomodulation treatment avenue that could be explored in Parkinson’s.

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Your hematopoietic system. Source: Wikipedia

The process of hematopoiesis (or blood formation) is absolutely fascinating.

Seriously.

You start off with a single, multi-potential hematopoietic stem cell. This is called a hemocytoblast (it’s the big cell in middle of the image below):

A hemocytoblast. Source: Pinterest

Given enough time, this single cell will give rise to an entire blood system, made up of many of different types of cells (as displayed in the schematic above) with very specific functions that are required for us to live normal lives.

It is a remarkable achievement of biology.

Understand that at any moment in time your blood system will contain 20-30 trillion cells (in the average human body). And as the image near the top of the post suggests, there are quite a few branches of potential cell types that these blood stem cells can generate.

Very interesting, but what does this have to do with Parkinson’s?

Continue reading “A nod to immunomod with fingolimod” →

Monthly Research Review – September 2022

~ Simon ~ 1 Comment

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At the end of each month the SoPD writes a post which provides an overview of some of the major pieces of Parkinson’s-related research that were made available during September 2022.

The post is divided into 10 parts based on the type of research:

# # # #

So, what happened during September 2022?

In world news:

September 6 – Liz Truss was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after winning the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election

September 8 – Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96. Her son Charles III succeeded her as King.

 

16th September – Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman died in an Iranian hospital days after being detained by the Government’s Guidance Patrol (or “morality police” ) for allegedly not complying with the country’s hijab regulations

 

26th September – NASA’s DART crashed into the asteroid Dimorphos and changed its course in a first test of potential planetary defense (do a google search for “Nasa’s Dart” and watch what happens – very clever!).

 

30th September – Russian President Vladimir Putin signs treaties absorbing the occupied regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia into the Russian Federation ( …and nobody paid attention)

 

In the world of Parkinson’s research, a great deal of new research and news was reported:

In September 2022, there were 888 research articles added to the Pubmed website with the tag word “Parkinson’s” attached (8884 for all of 2022 so far). In addition, there was a wave to news reports regarding various other bits of Parkinson’s research activity (clinical trials, etc).

The top 6 pieces of Parkinson’s news

Continue reading “Monthly Research Review – September 2022” →

The mystery of melanoma

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For a long time, researchers have recognised that there is an association between melanoma and Parkinson’s – with individuals affected by either condition being at higher risk of developing the other. The underlying biology of this connection has remained a mystery.

Recently, new data has pointed toward an unlikely bridge between the two, in the form of DOPA – a key ingredient in the production of the chemical dopamine.

In today’s post, we will discuss what melanoma is, explore the connections with Parkinson’s, and review the new research on DOPA.

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Godzone (Noun). Source: Mindfood

Growing up in New Zealand, the author of this blog developed a healthy fear of the dangers of melanoma at a very young age.

Unfortunately, New Zealand has one of the highest age-standardised incidence rates of melanoma in the world. It occurs in approximately 50 people per 100,000 of the general population, each year (it is one of many things we beat Australia at, their incidences is only 48 per 100,000).

By contrast, in the US the incidence is just 21.8 per 100,000 (Source).

And despite being less common than other types of skin cancer, in New Zealand melanoma accounts for 80% of skin cancer-related deaths (Source).

Wow! Really?

Really, really.

Fact: Melanoma is the third most common cancer in men and women in New Zealand (Source – in the UK and US, it is 5th).

But why the high incidence?

Ultraviolet radiation is the main reason. New Zealand and Australia have ~40% higher levels of ultraviolet radiation than the northern hemisphere. That whole ozone hole thing above Antarctica – yep, it’s still a thing (source).

Combine that unfortunate circumstance with the fact that both countries have a high proportion of antipodeans with lighter pigmented skin making up their populations – who (I can confirm) are more susceptible to sunburn – and you have a perfect recipe for melanoma.

I can remember as a kid returning home from the beach looking like a boiled lobster… on a regular basis.

An ACDC fan. Source: Runt

I really hate to say it, but New Zealand isn’t quite perfect.

Interesting, but what does this have to do with Parkinson’s?

Continue reading “The mystery of melanoma” →

PWP: Parrots with Parkinson’s?

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Lewy bodies are densely packed aggregates of proteins and lipids that can be found in some neurons in the brain of many people with Parkinson’s. They have long been considered a cardinal feature of the Parkinsonian brain.

To date, humans are the only species that have displayed evidence of Lewy bodies.

But very recently new data has suggested that Lewy body-like pathology might not be so human-specific.

In today’s post, we will discuss what are Lewy bodies are and explore the new research report suggesting that they might not be unique to humans. 

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Source: Theanimalfacts

The yellow-crowned parrot are remarkably similar to humans.

They have a lifespan of 60 to 80 years (in captivity; 20 to 30 years in the wild), and they are monogamous in their pairing, with pairs often remaining together for life. And they are rather vocal (but curiously they don’t have vocal cords).

Ok, their courtship is slightly different to humans (it involves lots of bowing, drooping, flicking of wings, raising of feet, and dilating of pupils) and chocolate is extremely poisonous to them.

But by and large, they are remarkably similar to us (at least as far as birds go).

Great, but what does any of this have to do with Parkinson’s?

Continue reading “PWP: Parrots with Parkinson’s?” →