Professor Aideen Sullivan

University College Cork

Parkinson’s research in UCC: Lifestyle factors and improving therapies

What happens in the brain in Parkinson’s?

Parkinson’s brain

Healthy brain

Movement

Motor symptoms

MIDBRAIN STRIATUM

• RIGIDITY

• RESTING TREMOR

• POSTURAL

INSTABILITY

• BRADYKINESIA

What happens in the brain in Parkinson’s? What are we trying to prevent /slow down?

1. Gradual loss of dopamine neurons that control movement

2. A protein called alpha-synuclein builds up (aggregates) and spreads through the nervous system

3. As the disease progresses, many areas of the nervous system are affected and this causes a multitude of different symptoms

Lewy body

But it’s not just dopamine neurons that are affected

Non-motor symptoms have a huge impact on patients

Sleep disturbances

Cognitive impairment

Gastrointestinal issues Mood disorders

Swallowing &

speech problems

Bladder issues

Loss of smell

Age

Environment(Pesticides)

Genetics

Genetic causes e.g. alpha-synuclein, LRKK2, parkin, PINK1, DJ-1

Why does Parkinson’s happen?

For most patients, the cause of Parkinson’s is unknown

Risk factors:

Researching to improve therapies and earlier diagnostics for Parkinson’s

A Centre of Excellence in Neurodegeneration

40 Research teams https://www.ucc.ie/en.cns

OUR GOAL Apply our knowledge to develop better therapies, and improve quality of life for people living with major brain diseases

Researching to improve therapies for Parkinson’s: How are we doing this?

People

• body / tissue / cell / molecular changes

• lifestyle / environment

Models • laboratory models for testing disease mechanisms

People Therapies

Diagnostics

• new therapies for clinical trials

• life-style interventions

• new diagnostic approaches

Ultimate aim: to understand causes of Parkinson’s and translate findings to better therapies that prevent or slow down the disease

Metabolic /longevity

control Insulin/IGF1

Nurturing factors

Neurotransmission

Cell survival

Inflammation

Vascular

Protein health

Cell waste disposal

Metabolism Longevity

Gut-brain axis

Microbiome

Lifestyle factors Environment

Researching to improve therapies for Parkinson’s: How are we doing this?

Add dopamine or

mimic its actions

Movement

Parkinson’s

brain

MIDBRAIN STRIATUM

Effective in the short-term

Do not stop disease progression

Disabling side-effects with long-

term use

Researching to improve therapies for Parkinson’s: Why are we doing this?

1. Neurotrophic factors –

natural proteins that nurture dopamine

neurons in the developing brain

Researching to improve therapies for Parkinson’s: How are we doing this?

Researching to improve therapies for Parkinson’s

2. Focus on non-motor symptoms

- new laboratory models

(cognitive symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms)

Non-motor symptoms greatly affect patients’ quality of life

- study on sleep, diet and mood

(collaboration with Cork Parkinson’s Support Group)

Preventing Parkinson’s by understanding lifestyle factors for healthy ageing

Parkinson’s will be best prevented both by understanding lifestyle factors that may slow down its progress and by developing new therapies that target the

cell and molecular systems that cause the disease

Management Team

Cora O’Neill

Aideen Sullivan

Suzanne Timmons

Yvonne Nolan

Gerard O’Keeffe

Aisling Ryan

John Cryan

Team

Barry Boland

Geraldine Boylan

Jason Chan

Danny Costello

Tom Cotter

Simon Cronin

Ruslan Dmitriev

Ted Dinan

Tony Foley

Collette Hand

Niall Hyland

John McCarthy

Justin McCarthy

Will Molloy

Deirdre Murray

Nicole Muller

Ken O’Halloran

Olivia O’Leary

Dervla O’Malley

Denis O’Mahony

Siobhain O’Mahony

Sean O’Sullivan

Colm O’Tuathaigh

Orna O’Toole

Dmitri Papkovsky

Mark Rae

Annalisa Setti

George Shorten

Brian Sweeney

Andre Toulouse

Christian Waeber

Paul Young

Affiliated PIs

Stephen Byrne

Kellie Dean

Susan Joyce

Eric Moore

Tom Moore

Mary McCaffrey

Caitriona O’Driscoll

Rosemary O’Connor

https://www.ucc.ie/en.cns

Cork neuroscience centre Funding and support

Translational Research Access Programme (TRAP) UCC

The Netherlands Brain Bank

“So hope for a great sea-change

On the far side of revenge.

Believe that further shore

Is reachable from here.

Believe in miracle

And cures and healing wells”