The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) announces 127 grants that total $86 million awarded in December 2024 and January 2025.
These grants cover themes ranging from alleviating depression associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) to better categorizing individual cases of Parkinson’s. Find more on MJFF Funded Studies here.
Refining Measurements
Being able to characterize the ways in which Parkinson’s disease develops over time allows researchers to better understand the effects of potential treatments as they are studied. The only way to know if a treatment is improving symptoms is to have those symptoms well-characterized through specific and accurate measurements. That’s why refining measurement tools is an ever-evolving priority of MJFF, as reflected by projects like the one led by Jennifer Goldman, MD, MS, of JPG Enterprises, which aims to determine optimal measures of cognitive function in Lewy body disorders. These measures will help track people’s cognitive function over time, allowing researchers to chart the impact of a therapy against typical progression arcs.
Characterizing Environmental Exposure
Another key area of PD for exploration is the relationship between environmental triggers and the disease. MJFF launched a Request for Proposals in Fall of 2024 to explore the impact of environmental exposures on stem cells, helping illuminate how those exposures might drive changes in the brain, including those associated with PD.
One project chosen from the RFA comes from Professor Lezanne Ooi’s research at University of Wollongong in Australia. It will explore the effects of long-lasting chemicals, nanoplastics and pesticides on the dopaminergic system in the brain, which is the system most associated with PD.
Better understanding the contributors to Parkinson’s disease can lead to better mitigation and prevention.
Subtyping Disease
As with measurements, our constantly growing knowledge of the biological mechanisms behind PD drives the need for better categorization. MJFF also launched a Fall Request for Proposals in 2024 to support projects that will help subdivide cases of Parkinson’s (and other synuclein-based diseases) into endotypes, which are subtypes of a given health condition that are defined by distinct biological mechanisms such as specific genetic mutations. Subdividing PD (and related diseases) into endotypes could help to identify treatments that are effective for specific subsets of the Parkinson’s population.
Work focused on endotypes could go a long way toward understanding the varied biology associated with Parkinson’s disease, and lead to personalized, targeted medicines.
Freezing of Gait
While understanding the fundamentals of Parkinson’s biology as specifically as possible opens new doors for therapies, MJFF also continues to fund work directly addressing Parkinson’s most troubling symptoms. One symptom that people with PD frequently identify as being disruptive is freezing of gait, where a person may feel like their feet are stuck in mud.
MJFF has homed in on gait as a particularly promising and impactful area for developing new ideas. In Spring of 2024, MJFF issued a Request for Applications to support freezing of gait research, and the Foundation continues to fund new science on the subject. One project recently earning support comes from Jorik Nonnekes, MD, PhD, at Radboud University Medical Center. The project will explore the potential of medications to ease freezing of gait by impacting the noradrenergic arousal system, which plays a key role in regulating alertness, attention and the body’s response to stress.
Therapeutics Pipeline Program
Better treatments remain a gold standard of progress in the field, and MJFF continues to aggressively fund therapeutic development through its continuing Therapeutics Pipeline Program. In this funding cycle, the program funded advances in pre-clinical research, supporting new research into potential therapies like GXV-006 and Paxalisib. It also continues to support the very latest in clinical development, such as a study from Ellen Bradley, MD, at University of California, San Francisco, on how psilocybin therapy (derived from “magic” mushrooms) can impact depression in Parkinson’s disease.
A Bold Portfolio
The projects listed here illustrate the broad approach to Parkinson’s research at MJFF, and they only make up a portion of funded research, which extends from individually selected projects to large studies and initiatives, such as the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) or the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s Collaborative Research Network (ASAP CRN).
To learn more about active funding mechanisms at MJFF, visit our Funding Opportunities page.