Parkinson's Disease News and Research

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Parkinson's disease is a brain disorder. It occurs when certain nerve cells (neurons) in a part of the brain called the substantia nigra die or become impaired. When approximately 80 percent of neurons are damaged, the symptoms of Parkinson's disease appear. Parkinson's disease affects 1 in 100 people over the age of 60, with the average age of onset being 60 years. The risk of developing Parkinson's disease increases with age. In the United States, it is estimated that 60,000 new cases of Parkinson's disease are diagnosed each year, with 1.5 million Americans currently living with the disease.

Knocking Out Specific Receptor Genes Prevents Dopaminergic Neuronal Cell Death

The protein alpha-synuclein is abundant in healthy brains and plays an important role in enabling communication between nerve cells.

6 Oct 2026

Engineered 3D miBrains Model Human Neurovascular Units and Pathology

Mount Sinai researchers have identified how APOE4, the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, damages the brain's blood vessels and promotes the buildup of abnormal proteins linked to neurodegenerative disease.

26 Sep 2026

3D Stem-Cell miBrains Model Complex Neurovascular Pathology in Human Tissue

25 Sep 2026

New Platform Links Dysfunctional Biomolecular Condensates to Microcephaly and Neurodevelopment

When you add drops of oil to water, the oil and water remain separate. Within cells, biological molecules cluster together in a similar way, separating themselves from the rest of the cell. And while they don't have a membrane, they are their own distinct compartments.

3 Sep 2026

Advanced Computational Methods Map Metabolite Binding Proteins Across Cellular Contexts

Endogenous metabolites participate in nearly every fundamental biological process, serving not only as metabolic intermediates but also as signaling molecules that influence physiology and disease.

1 Sep 2026

Mapping Diverse Brain Cell Populations Unlocks Deep Hidden Molecular Secrets

Understanding how molecular changes shape brain function and disease requires more than measuring genes in bulk tissue.

22 Aug 2026

Locally Activated Skull T Cells Halt Glioblastoma Growth in Mice

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered lymph node-like structures in the skull bone marrow of mice for the first time and demonstrated that they act as rapid first responders against brain cancer before distant lymph nodes get the signal that abnormal cells are present.

20 Aug 2026

New Study Reveals How Genetic Mutations Hijack the Parkinson's LRRK2 Switch

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have uncovered how a key Parkinson's protein called LRRK2 shifts between inactive and active forms, revealing the structural changes that enable certain mutations to push the protein into an overactive state.

11 Aug 2026

Emerging m6A RNA Biology Explains Brain Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards

A growing understanding of RNA biology is reshaping how scientists view the relationship between environmental toxicants, brain development, and neurodegenerative disease.

7 Aug 2026

New Molecular Discoveries Explain How Protein Mutations Regulate Neurological Illnesses

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have conducted the first comprehensive structural analyses of a class of proteins whose dysfunction is associated with neurodegenerative diseases.

3 Aug 2026

New Base Editing Strategy Rewrites Genetic Code to Minimize Huntington's Symptoms

A gene editing tool designed to precisely rewrite the gene that causes Huntington's disease reduced toxic protein fragments and symptoms associated with the disease in mice, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign report.

30 Jul 2026

Researchers Develop Non-Toxic Way to Generate the Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease

Scientists usually use animal models when studying Parkinson's disease because these models mimic the disease well.

30 Jun 2026

Study Shows Protein Fragment Reduces Neuronal Degeneration in Mice

Researchers at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP) in Brazil have discovered a new strategy that may protect neurons and other brain cells involved in Parkinson's disease in the future.

13 Jun 2026

Scientists Synthesize Rare Sea Sponge Molecules to Boost Future Cancer Drug Development

Florida State University chemists have synthesized new molecules derived from bacteria found in a Pacific Ocean sea sponge, a breakthrough for the future of drug development, particularly for rare forms of cancer.

21 May 2026

Study Reveals How Neurons Sense Bacterial Signals in Nematodes

Neural interaction with bacteria, e.g. in the gut microbiome, has important effects on brains of animals from worms to people.

21 Apr 2026

Janelia Scientists Develop New Method To Study Blood-Brain Barrier Proteins

Think it was hard to get into Studio 54? Try getting through the blood-brain barrier.

10 Apr 2026

New PanNDA Atlas Maps Protein Networks in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases form a tangled biological web with overlapping molecular signatures and symptoms. To decode this complexity, a multi-institute collaboration led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists developed the pan-neurodegeneration atlas (PanNDA).

24 Mar 2026

ANKIB1 Identified as the Essential Master Switch for Innate Immunity

Innate immune sensors – known as pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) – detect specific molecular components of bacterial or viral intruders.

9 Mar 2026

Genetically Engineered Stem Cells Successfully Overcome Immune Rejection in Mice

A study published today in Stem Cell Reports demonstrates that genetically engineered human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) can overcome immune rejection in mice with humanized immune systems, surviving for five months in a stringent transplantation model.

6 Mar 2026

Human 3D Model Shows How the Gut Drives Neurodegeneration

Research on a 3D microfluidic model highlights gut-brain interactions, offering new insights into inflammatory processes linked to neurodegenerative diseases.

18 Feb 2026