APDA funds eight Centers for Advanced Research across the country, which facilitate investigations into the causes, treatments, and ultimately, a cure for PD. One of these centers is located at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Jersey, where APDA funding supports research in:
- The role of TG2 in the pathologic aggregation of alpha-synuclein
- L-dopa induced dyskinesia, atypical parkinsonism, progressive supranuclear palsy
- Neuroprotective activity of a non-caffeine component of coffee
Dr. Golbe and Team Discover a Key Mutation in PD
Lawrence I. Golbe, MD, Medical Director of the APDA Center for Advanced Research at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Dr. Golbe led a team at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School that discovered a family with autosomal-dominant PD in 1987. They extended the family tree through painstaking genealogical and clinical work to include 61 affected members. In 1997, in collaboration with the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH, they published the first report of a mutation in the gene for alpha-synuclein in PD, naming it PARK1. Much of that work was supported by their APDA Center Grant.
Donations from generous friends like you help fund APDA’s Centers for Advanced Research, where scientists are pushing the boundaries of PD research every day. Thank you for fueling our efforts to unlock the mysteries of this disease!