PDS announces £10million funding for new Discovery Award

The Parkinson's Disease Society (PDS) has launched a major new breakthrough-orientated research initiative today. The Discovery Award is aimed at accelerating progress in finding a cure for Parkinson's.

The Discovery Award provides potential funding of initially up to £5million over 5 years (with a possible further 5-year extension) for research focused on three priority areas:

• an understanding of the pathology of Parkinson's at a cellular level
• the development of better animal models of the condition to accelerate research
• the use of long term studies of people with Parkinson's to identify biomarkers, enabling earlier diagnosis of the condition and therefore earlier therapeutic intervention

Dr Kieran Breen, Director of Research and Development, said:

"The PDS is the largest non-commercial funder of Parkinson's research in the UK. The Discovery Award shows the Society's commitment to finding the ultimate breakthrough - a cure for people with Parkinson's.

"Our initiative encourages synergy between the most talented researchers at the UK's best universities and hospitals."

The Society is now calling on consortia researchers to submit an initial expression of interest by 5pm on Friday 22 May 2009.

Find out more about the Discovery Award

http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/research/research_news/discovery_award.aspx