UA receives grant for Parkinson's research

Through funding by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, several UA and UAB students have started paving a new path of genetic Parkinson's Research.

The students and researchers will be searching for genes that can lead to Parkinson's, the main culprit being a gene called alpha-synuclein.

The UA research group is using a comma-sized C. elegan worm as an animal model, removing as well as inserting new genes, a process known as "over expressing." The research should determine which DNA could be held liable for this fatal disorder. Despite the worm's simplicity, this creature has a DNA structure similar to human DNA, with a few essential hormones relative to the disease, such as dopamine.

Also, more than 50 percent of all human hereditary diseases have been linked to genetic components also found in the worm.

Guy and Kim Caldwell, both professors of biological sciences at the University, along with David Standaert, vice chair of neurology at UAB, will be awarded $250,000 to split between the two research labs over the next two years.

"We are extremely honored to be representing the goals of MJFF once again," Guy Caldwell said in a recent press release. "There is a really fine nucleus of Parkinson's researchers that has grown here at Alabama."

The award given to the University and UAB was one of nine in the world for the foundation's 2007 Target Validation. The program was designed to follow up on other discoveries made in the Caldwell lab, like the 2003 Protein Degradation program, founded by the Fox Foundation.

Working on the study is doctoral student Shu Hamamichi, who performed what Caldwell dubbed a heroic task by using a technique called RNA interference.

This knocked out about 1,000 gene functions from the tiny worm model, a task that would have required thousands of dollars and nearly a year of research had a small mouse been used. Also, this process allowed the impact of the missing function to be viewed more clearly.

Contributing researcher John Ricketts, a sophomore majoring in biological sciences, works daily at the lab on projects funded by the MJFF grant, researching several diseases related to Parkinson's. One of these is Eystonia, which developed from the same protein malfunction that has been known to cause Parkinson's disease.

Ricketts said the most rewarding aspect of participating in this study is getting to meet victims of these diseases, and knowing that each day of work in the lab is moving those victimized by Parkinson's and Eystonia toward a cure.

"You get bogged down in the day-to-day work, but seeing these kids come in and knowing how much our progress is affecting them is very rewarding," Ricketts said.