How MJFF Accelerates Breakthroughs in Parkinson’s Research: A Conversation with Dr. Shalini Padmanabhan

In this episode, I discussed with Dr. Shalini Padmanabhan, Senior VP of Research from Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF), the work conducted by the foundation.  She highlighted MJFF's strategic approach to funding across the entire research spectrum, from basic biology to clinical trials, and emphasized our focus on breaking down silos between academia, industry, and patients to accelerate progress. We also discussed current challenges in Parkinson's research, including the complexity of the disease, difficulties in translating preclinical findings to clinical settings, and the need for better biomarkers and clinical trial designs.·       Biomarker :  is an indicator, something we can measure in our blood, urine, or soft tissues to show that the drug treatment/therapy is showing a response to a therapeutic treatment. These have been hard to find especially for neurological diseases and new biomarkers are being discovered that is helping design clinical trials.·       Pre-clinical model- to understand a disease in laboratory, scientists need to make a model using animals or cells that looks like the disease.·       PPMI: MJFF has initiated a Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI), that follows thousands of individuals – those recently diagnosed Parkinson’s participants and healthy controls for clinical and genetic risk factors.·       Epidemiology— Epidemiology is the branch of medical science that investigates which factors can lead to diseases and disorder.Send us Fan MailSupport the showHope you enjoy this episode. Please subscribe, share, and leave a comment.