From UCLA Newsroom (by Holly Ober):
David Eisenberg, a distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCLA, has been selected by SPARK NS for the 2025 cohort of research support for development of new therapies to treat Parkinson’s disease. SPARK NS is an independent nonprofit dedicated to advancing discoveries in neuroscience.
Nearly a million Americans suffer from movement disorders and possible dementia brought on by Parkinson’s disease (PD). There are drugs that mitigate some symptoms, but none that halt progression of the disease. Scientific consensus is that the proximal cause of PD is the aggregation of a protein called alpha-synuclein (a-syn) into fibrils in the brain. These fibrils kill neurons.
“Our approach is to discover small molecules that disassemble these fibrils of a-syn,” Eisenberg said. “Small molecules have the advantage that they can often be formulated as pills that can be orally administrated by patients at home, rather than by injections or infusions that need the bedside skills of a medical professional.”
One challenge of developing small-molecule drugs for brain-based diseases such as PD is that the molecules must pass the blood-brain barrier — which helps prevent harmful substances from reaching the brain — and get into the neurons, where the a-syn fibrils reside. Small molecules can also interact unexpectedly with other biological processes, producing side effects.
SPARK NS will provide funding and connect the Eisenberg group with experts in drug development to help the researchers meet these challenges as they work toward a new type of drug that can slow — or stop — Parkinson’s.
