VCU Parkinson's & Movement Disorders Center

Researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center have found that mitochondrial quality and functional capacity play an important role in Parkinson’s disease.   Dr. Patricia Trimmer, associate director of basic research for the center and associate professor of anatomy and neurobiology, and her research team recently published research study results that [...]

The VCU Brain Tissue Resource Facility, managed by the Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center, advances the research of Parkinson’s and related neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease.  Collection of autopsy and human brain tissue donations from those with neurodegenerative diseases and their families, as well as health volunteers contribute to this important work. [...]

Seahorse Bioscience awarded Emily Cronin-Furman, a Ph.D. candidate of Dr. Patricia A. Trimmer a travel scholarship to attend the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting for her research poster Decline in mitochondrial function after autophagic stress in a human Parkinson’s disease cell model. Learn more.

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research has awarded funds to Sarah K. Lageman, PhD, ABPP-CN, a clinician-investigator with the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center and Assistant Professor of Neurology. This grant will support Dr. Lageman’s research of the benefits of memory and problem solving training compared to supportive therapy in people with [...]

Saturday, May 19, 2012 Richmond Convention Center 9:00 am – 3:15 pm The VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center is pleased to announce an exciting educational event coming to Richmond this spring: The Victory Summit Symposium. Produced by The Davis Phinney Foundation in partnership with the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center, Southeast PADRECC, UVa [...]

Ravindar “Ravi” Thomas, PhD, a scientist at the VCU Parkinson’s and Movement Disorders Center recently presented an abstract at the Annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting in Washington, DC. The abstract is titled “Parkinson’s Brains Have Downregulated Expression of Genes for Mitochondrial Biogenesis, Complex I Assembly Factor ACAD9 and Multiple Complex I Nuclear Genome-Encoded but not [...]

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The Brain Tissue Resource Facility (BTRF) is an important part of the VCU Parkinson’s Disease Center.  Years of experience and efforts by the scientific community have found the experiments using cell and animal models to mimic human neurodegenerative diseases do not provide a clear picture of the disease process.  Unfortunately these experiments have not led [...]

The VCU PD Center sponsored an Update Course on Saturday, April 23, 2011.  Over 130 people attended the course, which featured presentations on mood disorders and mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s, as well as the drug development process and a review of drugs currently in development for PD. Following a break for lunch, the speakers [...]

Dr. Jim Bennett, Center Director, shares his comments on the recent published findings of the AAV2-GAD gene therapy for advanced Parkinson’s disease trial. In the April, 2011 issue of The Lancet-Neurology, results of a double-blind, sham surgery controlled, Phase 2 study of gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease symptoms were reported. The study is compelling for [...]