Assistant professors in the Department of Neurology, Patricia Aguilar Calvo, Ph.D., and Mariangela Scarduzio, Ph.D., have been awarded research grants from the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA).

Aguilar Calvo and Scarduzio are two of eight recipients in the country for the APDA’s research grants, which are awarded to investigators performing innovative Parkinson’s disease (PD) research at major academic institutions across the U.S. Both researchers will receive $75,000 for this grant.

Aguilar Calvo’s grant will be used to understand how heparan sulfate sugars modulate the neuronal internalization and brain clearance of alpha-synuclein aggregates during PD pathology. Impairing the transcellular propagation of alpha-synuclein pathology could slow PD progression. Yet, the mechanisms of alpha-synuclein cell-to-cell transmission are poorly known. This funded project tests the novel hypothesis that heparan sulfate sugars modulate the in vivo propagation and clearance of alpha-synuclein aggregates in the nervous system.

“This grant is an exciting opportunity to apply innovative techniques and animal models from the glycobiology research field into a neurology research study,” Aguilar Calvo said. “This project is highly translational as drugs designed to genetically modify the heparan sulfate composition and heparan sulfate mimetic peptides that compete with the host heparan sulfate for the binding with ligands are FDA approved and used to treat Gaucher disease and cancer, among other disorders.”

Scarduzio’s research aims to uncover the core mechanisms behind the development of involuntary movements, named L-DOPA-induced dyskinesia (LID), a debilitating side effect of PD medication that significantly impacts patient wellbeing. It focuses on understanding how two key brain chemicals involved in movement regulation, dopamine and acetylcholine, change in response to acute and chronic treatment with LDOPA in the brain of a mouse model of parkinsonism. By uncovering how these brain neuromodulators interact and influence movement, the hope is to find new strategies for better managing the movement difficulties caused by PD and its treatments.

“Receiving this grant from the APDA is an incredible privilege, as it provides essential resources to apply a cutting-edge imaging approach to the investigation of the neurochemical interactions contributing to the development of deregulated movement,” Scarduzio said. “This will ultimately pave the way for more effective treatments to improve the lives of patients suffering from PD debilitating side effects.”