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Parkinson's Disease Research Web: Udall Meeting Theme is Sharing

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Sharing-of information, ideas, data, experiences, and resources-describes the 3rd annual meeting of the Udall Centers of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease Research revolved. Held August 6-7 in Bethesda, Maryland, the event brought scientists from all eleven Centers together to discuss their current work and future directions, and to brainstorm new ideas and best possible solutions to research problems.

"One of the mandates to the Udall Centers is to find ways to collaborate with each other and, by so doing, raise their total contributions to Parkinson's disease research above the sum of their parts," said Dr. Audrey S. Penn, acting director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the Federal agency that funds the Centers. "I am impressed by the enthusiasm generated by the meeting attendees. Their willingness to share information, including unpublished data, and offer ideas and assistance to one another is something we see all too rarely in the scientific community."

All eleven Principal Investigators provided an overview of their Center's research. NINDS staff provided a synopsis of the Institute's activities and initiatives over the past year. The concept of developing a NINDS-supported Udall scholars exchange program, which would allow staff from one Center to cross train at a different Center, was very well received. After a poster session featuring research highlights, often presented by the Centers' junior investigators, the participants broke into three groups to discuss the following topics:

  • High Throughput Drug Screening: Also known as HTS, high throughput drug screening is a high tech process that allows scientists to rapidly screen large numbers of drugs and other molecules against disease-associated "targets" in order to identify compounds with potentially therapeutic properties. The attendees described current and potential assays (targets) and identified sources of drug libraries, noting the need for diversity among compounds to be tested. Potential providers, both public and private, of competent, accessible HTS facilities capable of performing both assay development and drug screening were discussed.
  • Resource Sharing: Given the volume of work being conducted in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, the attendees feel there is a great and growing need for a variety of centralized databases to enable investigators to quickly and efficiently access information on a variety of topics, including animal models, genetic mutations, antibodies, and other research tools and discoveries. The need for, and problems inherent to, brain and tissue banks were highlighted. Easy access to data on these topics would have the beneficial effects of fostering collaborations, hastening research, and helping to avoid needless duplication of effort. NINDS was suggested as a logical central source for many of these databases. It was also suggested that a workshop on parkinsonian animal models would be useful.
  • Gene Discovery: Genetic research remains an important component of Parkinson's disease research. Many attendees feel there is a need to standardize the diagnostic and pathologic criteria used to identify various forms of parkinsonism, including progressive supranuclear palsy and dementia with Lewy bodies, especially if a registry is to be formed. Developing and maintaining genetic cell lines would be beneficial, but expensive. Issues related to access and use policies, including possible funding methodologies, were examined. Gene interactions should also be studied. The need to encourage brain and tissue donation to repositories, provide appropriately trained staff for such endeavors, and ways to accomplish those tasks were also discussed.

Additional information about the Centers is available at the following web sites: NINDS Awards to Parkinson's Research Centers of Excellence, NINDS to Support 8 new Parkinson's Research Centers, and Udall Centers of Excellence.

Last updated February 09, 2005