Jan 08 2021 Read 502 Times A team from the Francis Crick Institute, UCL and Cambridge University has been awarded $7.7million to identify the genetic and biological factors that cause Parkinson’s disease. The team, co-led by Sonia Gandhi, Group Leader of the Crick’s Neurodegeneration Biology laboratory, has received the grant from ASAP (Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s). This global research initiative funds teams that are working on understanding the basic mechanisms that contribute to the development and progression of Parkinson’s disease. By using advanced imaging methods to look for single molecules, or oligomers, in the brain as indicators of early onset of the disease, the researchers aim to build a map of the cells first affected and the conditions progression. By looking at all the genes expressed in those specific cells, they will build a model that shows how genetic factors affect pathways that cause Parkinson’s. The aim is to then modify these genes in human stem cells, to better document and understand their effects over time.