Dr. Jerry Darsey, professor of chemistry at UALR, and his research group have been awarded a $75,000 grant from the Michael J. Fox Foundation to study Parkinson’s Disease.

The foundation funds research toward a cure for Parkinson’s, the degenerative disease of the brain that impairs motor skills, speech, and other functions.

“The grant, which provides funding for one year under the Foundation’s RRIA (Rapid Response Innovation Awards) 2008, is titled ‘Modeling Studies of Several Drug Molecules and their Derivatives for Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease,'” Darsey said.

The grant will help Darsey’s research team study at the molecular level the removal of clumped proteins known as Lewy bodies, which may be formed by the misfolding of certain proteins.

“Current therapies for Parkinson’s involve symptomatic treatment focused on replenishing the compound dopamine, which is lost due to the death of nerve cells in the brain,” Darsey said. “Our project will try to find new compounds which will help prevent the death of these nerve cells.”