CTRND Neuroscientists Demonstrate Link Between Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases

CTRND faculty members Jada Lewis and Benoit Giasson along with UF graduate student Rachel Bailey and Jason P. Covy of Stanford University have reported in Acta Neuropathologica their discovery of a biological mechanism linking Parkinson’s disease to Alzheimer’s disease.

Their NIH/NINDS funded research focused on the LRRK2 (“lerk two”) enzyme and the effects on the protein Tau.  Mutations of the LRRK2 enzyme cause abnormalities in Tau causing it to form clumps (“tangles”) in diseased brains.