Funded Research for 2018-19
George C. Cotzias Fellowship
The George C. Cotzias Fellowship is named in honor of the scientist who had a critical role in developing Levodopa as a treatment for Parkinson’ disease and is awarded with the purpose of encouraging young Neurologists to follow in his footsteps.
Aasef G. Shaikh, MD, PhD
Cleveland VA Medical Center, University Hospitals Cleveland, and Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
The influence of basal ganglia, thalamus, and cerebellum network on discordant visual input induced gait disorder in Parkinson’s disease (PD)
Vivek K. Unni, MD, PhD
Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon
Molecular mechanisms of Lewy body pathology-associated cell death in Parkinson’s disease
Post-Doctoral Fellowships
This fellowship is awarded to post-doctoral scientists whose research holds promise to provide new insights into the pathophysiology, etiology and treatment of Parkinson’s disease. This is a fellowship of $35,000 per year for one year.
Daniel Joyce, PhD
Stanford University, Stanford, California
Pupil-based biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease (PD)
Giulietta Riboldi, MD
NYU Langone Health, New York, New York
Role of GBA mutation in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease (PD)
Research Grants
This grant is awarded to investigators affiliated with and performing Parkinson’s disease research at major academic institutions, whose research holds promise to provide new insights into the pathophysiology, etiology and treatment of Parkinson’s disease. This is a grant of $50,000 per year for one year and is renewable.
Tim Bartels, PhD
Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Dementia Research Centre, University College London
Alpha-Synuclein (αsyn) related lipid pathology in Parkinson’s Disease (PD)
Christopher Bishop, PhD
Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York
Targeting the pedunculopontine tegmental nucleus to optimize treatment of Parkinson’s disease (PD)
Shu G. Chen, PhD
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio
Novel knock-in models linking Rab phosphorylation to neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease (PD)
Elizabeth Disbrow, PhD
Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, Louisiana
Diversity in Biomarker Discovery
Yuanfang Guan, PhD
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Digital Biomarkers for Monitoring Parkinson’s Disease (PD)
Mallory Hacker, PhD
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee
Investigating Long-Term Clinical Outcomes of Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) in Early Stage Parkinson’s Disease (PD)
Magdalena Ivanova, PhD
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Biochemical and structural studies of α-synuclein (αsyn) fibrils derived from brain tissues with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Dementia with Lewy bodies (LB) with Alzheimer’s disease
Cameron Jeter, PhD
The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
Protective role of the oral microbiome in Parkinson’s disease
Eunsung Junn, PhD
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey
In vivo identification of microRNAs associated with alpha-Synuclein (αsyn) mRNA
Roberta Marongiu, PhD
Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York
Menopause as an important transition state in the susceptibility to Parkinson’s disease (PD)
Talene Yacoubian, MD, PhD
University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Medicine, Birmingham, Alabama
Rab27b as a potential regulator of alpha-synuclein spread (αsyn)
2018 APDA-PF Summer Student Fellowships
This fellowship offers undergraduate and medical students $4,000 each in funding for Parkinson’s disease research projects to be conducted in a ten-week period over the summer. The 2018 funding is a collaboration between The American Parkinson Disease Association and the Parkinson’s Foundation (PF) to support research that will help solve, treat and end Parkinson’s disease.
Nadia Anabtawi
Mentor: Laura Volpicelli-Daley, Ph.D.
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Characterizing the Neuronal Internalization and Spreading of Different Conformers of α-Synuclein
Sidhanth Chandra
Mentor: Andrew West, Ph.D.
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Investigation of α-Synuclein Propagation and Neurodegeneration in LRRK2-knock-in Mutant Mice
Wai-Kat Chia
Mentor: Monica Driscoll, Ph.D.
Rutgers University
Neuronal Extrusion of Aggregates and Mitochondria from Dopaminergic Neurons
Michelle Chu
Mentor: Gregory Molnar, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota
Subthalamic Nuclei Gamma Frequency Deep Brain Stimulation for Parkinsonian Non-Human Primates
Elsa Clinton
Mentor: Carlos Barcia, Ph.D.
Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
Diminishing microglial activation targeting Cdc42 in Parkinson’s disease: Therapeutic approach for experimental Parkinsonism
Yoan Ganev
Mentor: Shubhik DebBurman, Ph.D.
Lake Forest College
Evaluation of Combinatorial Impact of Post-translational Modifications on α- Synuclein in a Yeast Model
Ethan Marshall
Mentor: Luke Johnson, Ph.D.
University of Minnesota
Classifying Stages of Sleep using DBS Leads in place of EEG
Helen Matsoff
Mentor: Marina Emborg, M.D., Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Mechanisms of cardiac sympathetic axonal degeneration
Ashley Park
Mentor: Jeff Bronstein, M.D., Ph.D.
University of California, Los Angeles
Air Pollution, Inflammation, and Parkinson’s Disease
Dakota Peacock
Mentor: Daryl Wile, MD, MSc, FRCPC
University of British Columbia
ParkinSMART: Parkinson’s Disease Symptom Monitoring and Recording Technology
Richard Richter
Mentor: Angela Roberts, Ph.D.
Northwestern University
Preliminary Research into Automatic Speech Analysis
Deepikaa Sriram
Mentor: Angela Roberts, Ph.D.
Northwestern University
Resolving the mystery of illegal omissions: Language-Motor interactions in real time language production in Parkinson’s Disease
IN THE NEWS
APDA Awards $1.7 Million in Research Grants.
Click here to read the Press Release