By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: A major clinical research project on Parkinson’s disease starts at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI) in September.
The research on clinical samples of patients will help discover biomarkers (causes) of Parkinson’s disease and early detection, which would help treat the patients effectively, said Dr Omar El Agnaf, Professor of Life Science, College of Science and Engineering, HBKU.
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic condition that results from the degeneration of nerve cells in a central part of a sufferer’s brain.
“There are no simple tests, by the time the patients show clinical symptoms, neurologists usually diagnose that about 60 or more than 70 percent of the nerve system responsible for the movement have been effected.
“That means the diagnosis is very late. Any treatment at that stage will be ineffective. Like any other diseases to have effective treatment, early diagnosis is better,” Dr El Agnaf told The Peninsula.
Dr El Agnaf, one of the world’s top Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease research scientists, will be the lead researcher in the first-of-its-kind project and will have permission to access spinal fluid samples obtained through Michael J Fox Foundation.
The foundation, dedicated to funding and research relating to Parkinson’s disease, has been collecting biomedical samples for four years, to give them to researchers so that they can discover biomarkers to indicate the state of the disease.
“The foundation has its covert of patients with Parkinson’s disease and done follow-ups with them for five years. It collected blood samples, spinal fluid and images in clinical data and those samples,” said Dr El Agnaf.
“We are the first research group that will have access to the samples, and I will lead the research. They have also funded the research for two years. This is a huge research milestone for Qatar, HBKU and for me,” he added.
“My research group might help us identify individuals who have high risk in developing Parkinson’s disease.
“Our research, confirmed by many international groups, shows the opportunity to identify the specific forms of protein that might be a good indicator for early diagnosis. This discovery has have been put on the table for clinical trials to validate,” he added.
Diagnosis or clinical trials mean giving samples from patients and testing them, which the research team will begin in September.
The Peninsula
By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: A major clinical research project on Parkinson’s disease starts at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI) in September.
The research on clinical samples of patients will help discover biomarkers (causes) of Parkinson’s disease and early detection, which would help treat the patients effectively, said Dr Omar El Agnaf, Professor of Life Science, College of Science and Engineering, HBKU.
Parkinson’s disease is a chronic condition that results from the degeneration of nerve cells in a central part of a sufferer’s brain.
“There are no simple tests, by the time the patients show clinical symptoms, neurologists usually diagnose that about 60 or more than 70 percent of the nerve system responsible for the movement have been effected.
“That means the diagnosis is very late. Any treatment at that stage will be ineffective. Like any other diseases to have effective treatment, early diagnosis is better,” Dr El Agnaf told The Peninsula.
Dr El Agnaf, one of the world’s top Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease research scientists, will be the lead researcher in the first-of-its-kind project and will have permission to access spinal fluid samples obtained through Michael J Fox Foundation.
The foundation, dedicated to funding and research relating to Parkinson’s disease, has been collecting biomedical samples for four years, to give them to researchers so that they can discover biomarkers to indicate the state of the disease.
“The foundation has its covert of patients with Parkinson’s disease and done follow-ups with them for five years. It collected blood samples, spinal fluid and images in clinical data and those samples,” said Dr El Agnaf.
“We are the first research group that will have access to the samples, and I will lead the research. They have also funded the research for two years. This is a huge research milestone for Qatar, HBKU and for me,” he added.
“My research group might help us identify individuals who have high risk in developing Parkinson’s disease.
“Our research, confirmed by many international groups, shows the opportunity to identify the specific forms of protein that might be a good indicator for early diagnosis. This discovery has have been put on the table for clinical trials to validate,” he added.
Diagnosis or clinical trials mean giving samples from patients and testing them, which the research team will begin in September.
The Peninsula
