The Michael J. Fox Foundation, founded by and named for actor, author, and advocate Michael J. Fox, announced that it is awarding $300,000 to NUI Galway for researchers to develop an approach to brain repair for Parkinson’s disease.
Brain repair for Parkinson’s involves transplanting healthy cells into the brain, a process that has not been very successful thus far because the transplanted cells have not been surviving well. That may change, now that a research team at NUI Galway led by Dr. Eilís Dowd has developed a gel that supports the transplanted cells, considerably improving their survival rates.
The grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation will be used toward further developing the supportive gel and determining if it could also improve the survival of adult stem cells.
Fox founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000 after publicly disclosing his 1991 diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease. Since then, it has been dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease through an aggressively funded research agenda, as well as to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those suffering from Parkinson’s disease today. ♦
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