2018-19 Funded Research Research & Impact What We Fund 2018-19 Funded Research 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. 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