Presented by: Sohini Chowdhury, Vice President, Research Partnerships, Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
Overview: Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative is an ambitious five-year clinical study sponsored by the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) and co-funded by MJFF and industry partners that seeks to identify progression markers of Parkinson's Disease (PD) by establishing and following a cohort of 400 newly diagnosed PD and 200 control subjects. Subjects will undergo frequent clinical assessments (motor and non-motor), imaging (DaTSCAN and MRI), and will have biologic samples collected (urine, blood, and CSF). Data and samples will be stored in central repositories; data will be made freely available to researchers through the study Web site, and investigators may apply for access to banked samples. Analyses will be performed to identify markers that could be used in clinical trials of disease-modifying therapies.
