Since 1961, the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA) has supported innovative scientists working to understand Parkinson’s disease (PD), improve treatments, and move closer to a cure. In 2025, APDA-funded investigators continued to drive high-impact discoveries throughout the Parkinson’s disease landscape, advancing knowledge in protein biology, brain imaging, environmental risks, and gut health, among others.
These discoveries reflect APDA’s long-standing commitment to funding high-impact, translational research all the way from basic laboratory science to real-world clinical care. All PD research progress, even small steps, gets us closer to better treatments and the cure we are all pushing for. We want you to be aware of the accomplishments our APDA-funded researchers achieve – not only to offer hope and optimism this brings, but also to show those of you who support APDA through donations what your generosity is helping make possible.
Tracking the Impact of APDA-Funded Research in 2025
There are many different metrics APDA analyzes to understand the impact of our grant funding. These include:
- The number of papers published in the medical literature that acknowledge APDA funding
- The quality of the journals in which the APDA-funded papers are published
- The number of times the individual APDA-funded papers were cited in other papers
These elements attempt to encapsulate the impact and quality of work being produced in the field to move research into translatable discoveries. It is important to note that research may take more than one year to reach its conclusion, which means that many of the papers published in 2025 were from researchers funded by APDA one or more years ago.
2025 Research at-a-Glance
- 56 peer-reviewed publications in academic journals
- 210 citations (and counting!)
- 10 publications in high impact journals (impact factor > 10) including , Cell, JAMA Neurology, and Lancet Neurology
- Research spanning basic science, translational discovery, clinical outcomes, imaging, new risk factors, and gut-brain biology
Here is a summary of citations for APDA papers from the past five years:
| Year | Number of Citations | Number of Papers | Average Impact Factor |
| 2021 | 1898 | 60 | 7.80 |
| 2022 | 516 | 28 | 9.07 |
| 2023 | 419 | 39 | 10.57 |
| 2024 | 152 | 46 | 7.74 |
| 2025 | 210 | 56 | 7.92 |
APDA-Funded Research Papers
APDA is proud to highlight some of the exciting work published in 2025 that we have funded.
The Gut–Brain Connection and Mitochondrial Health
In a study published in npj Parkinson’s Disease, Livia Morais, PhD, demonstrated that specific gut microbes can promote mitochondrial stress responses in neurons. Since mitochondrial dysfunction is a well-established contributor to neurodegeneration, this work strengthens the evidence that gut health may play a direct role in disease onset and progression.
This research supports the growing view that PD is not solely a brain disorder but a systemic condition involving immune, metabolic, and microbiome pathways. This understanding is opening up new avenues for early intervention and disease modification.
Environmental Drivers of PD Risk
In a major review published in The Lancet Neurology, E. Ray Dorsey, MD, MBA, Professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester and Briana De Miranda, APDA-funded investigator and member of APDA’s Scientific Advisory Board, examined the growing evidence linking environmental toxicants to PD risk and its progression. The work analyzed data on pesticides, industrial chemicals, air pollution, and heavy metals, highlighting how these exposures contribute to neurodegeneration. These risk factors may also help explain why there is a rising global PD prevalence. This research illustrates the importance of environmental risk prevention strategies and public health interventions in coordination with research teams to reduce the future burden of PD. (APDA’s Department of Public Policy & Advocacy is working to push the federal government to ban the use of certain PD-connected toxins from use in the US.)
Enhancing Imaging Safety and Precision
Advanced neuroimaging plays an increasingly important role in PD research and diagnosis. Scott Norris, MD, Associate Professor of Neurology and Radiology at Washington University in Missouri and member of the research team at APDA’s Center for Advanced Research at Washington University, published a study in EJNMMI Research evaluating radiation dosimetry for a new radioactive ligand called 18F-VAT which tags a molecule call Vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT). Creating a safe and effective tag for VAChT is necessary in order to explore the role of VAChT in neurodegenerative disorders including PD, and potentially pave the way for development of novel diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions of this pathway. Dr. Norris and his team optimized imaging protocols to reduce radiation exposure while maintaining diagnostic accuracy.
How APDA Research Funding Works
Every year, our Scientific Advisory Board meets to carefully select the scientists who will receive APDA research funding. It’s a very specific and thorough process that ensures only the most meritorious projects get supported. You can read about how a scientist develops a project to apply for funding.
APDA’s Newly Funded 2025-2026 Research Awardees
Our current group of grantees is working on exciting projects, which you can read about on our website. Our grantees are required to send us six-month and 12-month progress reports to keep us up to date on how their projects are progressing. This is an important part of the process and helps us evaluate and measure our impact.
Tips & Takeaways
- APDA-funded investigators published more than 50 studies in 2025, advancing PD research across biology, diagnostics, and treatment.
- Alpha-synuclein research identified new pathways involved in disease spread, opening doors to disease-modifying therapies.
- Understanding sex differences in disease treatment will aid in personalized therapy that could lead to optimized patient outcomes.
- Gut microbiome studies linked intestinal bacteria to mitochondrial health and neurodegeneration, reinforcing PD as a whole-body disease.
- Imaging advances investigated new brain targets for study in PD and other neurodegenerative conditions.
- Long-term outcome studies improved understanding of medication effects and disease trajectories.
- APDA’s translational research approach continues to move discoveries from the lab to the clinic with much more to come in 2026.
- Learn more about the work we fund and consider supporting our work if PD research is important to you.
This blog was written by Clark Jones, PhD, and was reviewed, edited, and approved by Dr. Rebecca Gilbert.