Glasgow takes lead in disease study

Charity Parkinson’s UK has launched the research at the uni which will track people with the neurological condition and has invested more than £1.6 million into the study.

The charity is hoping to unlock further secrets of the disease and wishesd to boost the chances of finding a cure.

It has also used the opening day of Parkinson’s Awareness Week to issue a call for 3,000 volunteers – both recently-diagnosed people with Parkinson’s (in the last three years), those aged under the age of 50 at diagnosis abd their brothers and sisters – to participate in the Tracking Parkinson’s clinical study.

The project will be lead by the uni’s Dr Donakld Grosset and will link eventually to 35-40 centres around the UK.

The main aim of the study is to identify biomarkers for the disease.

To this date, scientists around the world have been unable to find these clues which they could use as a diagnostic tool.

Dr Gosset said: “The cure for Parkinson’s is a global challenge and all the samples gathered from our thousands of volunteers will be available for analysis by researchers the world over.

“This, in itself, will speed up our ultimate goal – to develop a cure for Parkinson’s.

“I am very excited to be leading this cutting-edge research collaborating with top researchers from Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland”.

To qualify as a volunteer, people need to be under 50 years of age or have been diagnosed with the disease within the last three years (from the date they register for the study).

Brother and sisters of either set of participants are also invited to take part.