Research team wins anonymous donation

Staff at the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) are carrying out studies which aim to halt the progression of the debilitating condition.

Dr Oliver Bandmann, who is leading a team at the institute, said: “Parkinson’s is the second most common degenerative disease after Alzheimer’s.

“But unfortunately it just doesn’t seem to get as much attention or funding. More than 120,000 people are affected by the disease in the UK and 80 patients are diagnosed every day.

“Many people have the misconception that the disease only affects older people but one in 20 patients are under the age of 40.

“Treatments available to patients only improve some of their symptoms and people who are prescribed the drugs over a long period of time often suffer side effects.

“In addition, the drugs are often no longer very effective in the advanced stages of the disease.

“There are currently no drugs available which stop the cell death – which is what our research at SITraN focusses on.

“All degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Motor Neurone Disease (MND) cause cells in the brain to die.

“If we can unlock ways to prevent this and stop cells from dying, then the progression of the disease would be slowed down dramatically which would hugely improve a patient’s quality of life.”

Dr Bandmann said the donation would make a huge difference and added: “It will help us analyse the specific effect that drugs already developed for other conditions have on Parkinson’s disease.

“We are exceptionally grateful for any donations as they help us carry out investigations more quickly and in turn help to attract further funding from other charities and organisations.”