A Johns Hopkins Medicine-led research team has received an award of up to $52.1 million over four years from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, to better understand the rules that decide what shape a protein takes — and how those rules could support the identification of earlier diagnostics and therapeutic targets when proteins fold the wrong way. The team will start this work, which will be publicly shared through open-access resources, by studying Parkinson’s disease and Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer of bone and soft tissue in children and young adults.

Upstate Medical University has received $1.5 million in state funding as part of the SUNY Brain Institute, a $10 million collaborative effort to strengthen neuroscience research across SUNY campuses. The investment will expand New York’s capacity to study Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, and other age-related brain disorders by connecting researchers, specialized equipment, and advanced research infrastructure. At Upstate, the funding will support development of patient-derived stem cell and brain organoid models that more closely replicate human disease, helping researchers better understand disease progression and evaluate potential treatments. The initiative is designed to accelerate discovery, foster collaboration across institutions, and address the growing burden of neurological diseases on New Yorkers as the population ages.

Tissue-friendly electrodes, developed by researchers at Lund University in Sweden, are now undergoing clinical trials at Skåne University Hospital. Using 30 electrodes, each thinner than a strand of hair, the researchers aim to investigate the possibility of more precise stimulation and mapping of the brain prior to deep brain stimulation (DBS).

The drug could offer a "second honeymoon" for patients for whom the existing gold-standard Parkinson's treatment has stopped working.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurological disorders associated with later life, and its prevalence rises sharply with age. It affects the brain systems that control movement, often causing tremor, stiffness, slowness and problems with balance, all of which can reduce independence and quality of life in older adults. The condition is mainly linked to the gradual loss of dopamine-producing nerve cells. Current treatment usually relies on medicines such as levodopa, which can improve symptoms, especially in the earlier stages, but their benefit may become less consistent over time. For some patients, deep brain stimulation (DBS) offers another option, yet this involves surgery to place electrodes deep inside the brain.