NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The UK's National Institute for Health Research said on Wednesday that a team of researchers has received £750,000 ($1.2 million) in funding from Parkinson's UK to search for biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid.
The grant was awarded to researchers from NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and Units in Cambridge, Oxford, London, and Newcastle, and UK and US biotechnology companies. Simon Lovestone, director of the NIHR Dementia Translational Research Collaboration, is leading the research, which is leveraging blood samples and data collected from a Parkinson's UK-funded study called "Tracking Parkinson's" begun in 2012.
"This study is very important as finding Parkinson's biomarkers could be essential to developing future treatments," Lovestone said in a statement. "We've seen huge leaps in other conditions like some forms of cancer, where biomarkers have been identified, and a blood test for Alzheimer's is now looking hopeful. We need to do the same for Parkinson's."
The NIHR Dementia Translational Research Collaboration, a government initiative, brings together NIHR Biomedical Research Centres and Units to improve treatment for and care of patients with dementia and dementia-related conditions.