A Parkinson’s ‘game changer,’ backed by Michael J. Fox, could lead to new diagnostics and, someday, treatments

Research funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research that has resulted in the clearest evidence yet that the presence of a particular misfolded protein, alpha-synuclein, can be used to determine if people have Parkinson’s. It is an advance that may soon be used to develop better diagnostics, but more importantly could rapidly accelerate the search for treatments for the disease.