What We Fund: Advancing Parkinson’s Research from Biology to Better Care

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) invests in bold, patient-centered research across the Parkinson's disease (PD) pipeline - from understanding the biology of disease to developing new treatments and improving daily life for people living with Parkinson's.

The more than $195 million awarded to 84 projects in February and March 2026 reflects this full-spectrum approach, advancing our understanding of high-priority treatment targets, building powerful tools and resources, and delivering practical interventions that can make a difference now.

A significant portion of this funding continues MJFF's long-term investment in large-scale collaborative programs and platforms, including the Aligning Science Across Parkinson's Collaborative Research Network (ASAP CRN), Global Parkinson's Genetics Program (GP2), Parkinson's Precision Medicine Initiative (PPMI) and Path to Prevention Platform Trial (P2P). Together, these efforts are helping create the data, infrastructure and biological understanding needed to accelerate therapeutic development across the field.

Advancing New Targets and Therapies for Parkinson's Disease

A priority for MJFF is identifying and advancing biological targets and therapies that could lead to treatments that slow or stop disease progression. Several newly funded projects focus on deepening our understanding of Parkinson's biology and turning that knowledge into treatment opportunities which is critical for developing more personalized treatments that match the right patients and improve chances of success in clinical trials.

One study focuses on the GBA1 gene, one of the most important genetic risk factors for Parkinson's. While it's known that GBA1 mutations increase PD risk and can affect disease progression, different variants can impact patients in different ways.

The study aims to better understand those differences by linking specific genetic variants to their biological effects and clinical outcomes. By mapping how different GBA1 variants change cellular function and contribute to disease mechanisms, outcomes of the study could help identify which patients may benefit most from targeted therapies already in development.

Another project, part of MJFF's Targets to Therapies Initiative, focuses on a lesser-understood biological process called O-GlcNAcylation, which may play a role in protein regulation and neurodegeneration. By generating a clearer understanding of how this pathway influences disease processes - including its potential interaction with proteins like alpha-synuclein - the project aims to determine whether O-GlcNAc is a viable therapeutic target.

The focus on O-GlcNAc came from a deliberate MJFF-led targetprioritization process, in which MJFF scientists and external experts identified key gaps in knowledge that, if addressed, could significantly advance the field. The resulting multi-institution collaboration will study how different targets, including O-GlcNAc modifications, change in Parkinson's disease across biological scales. Importantly, this type of coordinated, high-priority investment is designed not only to answer fundamental scientific questions but also to de-risk the treatment-development pathway, helping turn biological discoveries into drug development.

Another major focus is supporting therapies targeting biology associated with LRRK2, an enzyme linked to the loss of dopamine-producing brain cells in some forms of Parkinson's disease. Through a Therapeutic Pipeline Program (TPP) grant, the LARKIN project, focuses on a potential oral drug designed to inhibit overactive LRRK2. Researchers will prepare the drug for early-stage clinical trials by making a high-quality version and running safety checks needed for regulators to support longer clinical trials.

The project adds to a larger portfolio of companies focused on LRRK2-directed therapy development, many of which are also participating in the Foundation's LRRK2 Investigative Therapeutic Exchange program (LITE), a collaborative effort to enable and accelerate therapy development for this important biological form of Parkinson's disease.

Together, these efforts support MJFF's broader goal of advancing therapies that target underlying disease biology rather than symptoms alone and underscore MJFF's strategy of pairing rigorous target validation with intentional investment in emerging biology to accelerate therapeutic discovery. By advancing well-established targets and therapeutics such as LRRK2 and GBA1 and exploring new pathways like O-GlcNAcylation, MJFF is helping build a stronger and more diverse pipeline of potential therapies.

Building Better Tools, Data and Trial Readiness

Alongside advancing our understanding of biology and therapy development, MJFF is investing in tools and resources that make research faster and more effective. This includes improving how Parkinson's is measured, tracked and studied across large populations.

MJFF continues to support major global initiatives including ASAP CRN, GP2 and PPMI, which provide foundational datasets, biosamples and research infrastructure for the Parkinson's field. These efforts help researchers better understand disease mechanisms, identify patient subtypes and accelerate therapeutic development worldwide.

The Parkinson's Clinical Cohorts Collaborative (PC3) is an additional example of MJFF works with other global research initiatives. Developed with Parkinson's UK, this project combines data from multiple UK datasets and links them with national healthcare records, creating a powerful, long-term dataset that tracks disease progression from early to advanced stages. Researchers can use this to better predict how Parkinson's develops, design more efficient clinical trials, and identify outcomes that matter most to patients. It also highlights MJFF's commitment to collaboration and maximizing the impact of patient data by making it more accessible and useful to the global research community.

Another priority is improving diagnosis through the development and use of biomarkers - biological signals of disease. The Biofluid Markers in MSA project aims to distinguish Parkinson's disease from multiple system atrophy (MSA), a related condition that can look similar early on but progresses differently and requires distinct treatment approaches. By analyzing blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples alongside clinical data, researchers hope to identify biological signatures that clearly separate the two conditions and track their progression. By focusing on the biology behind the disease - not just symptoms - this work helps group patients more accurately, design better clinical trials, and speed up the development of more targeted treatments.

MJFF is also supporting efforts to make advanced diagnostic tools more accessible. One newly funded project aims to develop a blood-based test that mirrors the α-synuclein seed amplification assay (SAA), a test that detects misfolded α-synuclein proteins associated with PD.

While SAA has transformed the field by enabling highly accurate biological diagnosis, it currently relies on cerebrospinal fluid. This study seeks to identify a "protein signature" in blood that mirrors SAA results and to validate the approach in independent cohorts. If successful, this approach could allow for earlier, less invasive diagnosis and make it easier to identify and enroll participants in clinical trials.

Another newly funded effort, MiND15, aims to develop a new brain imaging approach to better understand mitochondrial dysfunction - problems with how cells produce and use energy - which is believed to play an important role in Parkinson's disease. Using an advanced MRI technique and a specially modified form of vitamin B3 that can be tracked during imaging, researchers hope to measure changes in brain energy activity in real time. If successful, this work could help researchers detect disease-related changes earlier, better track Parkinson's progression and support the development of therapies targeting mitochondrial dysfunction.

Developing Patient-Centered Interventions

While the search for disease-modifying therapies continues, MJFF also funds solutions that can improve quality of life for people living with Parkinson's today. One important area is to improve mobility, an area where MJFF has worked with global experts to establish a robust strategy for funding and facilitation.

As part of a larger portfolio of projects seeking to improve gait and related mobility challenges in people with Parkinson's, the PWR-PD ("Power-PD") project explores how wearable technology can support exercise and rehabilitation at home. The system measures walking patterns and provides real-time feedback to help improve movement. Participants will use the system during daily activities for a year, allowing researchers to study its impact on mobility. By enabling home-based, data-driven rehabilitation, this approach could increase treatment adherence, improve mobility and support better symptom management.

A related effort uses personalized music technology to improve walking in people with Parkinson's. This project will use an already U.S.-approved digital therapeutic that matches the rhythm of music to an individual's natural gait and gradually adjusts it to encourage better movement patterns. For this project, funding will focus on understanding which patients might benefit most from this approach.

Participants will use the technology during regular walking sessions and researchers will track changes in walking ability before, during, and after the program. In some participants, researchers will also track the amount of cognitive effort walking takes. By reducing the mental effort required for walking and improving mobility, this approach has the potential to increase independence and daily functioning for people with Parkinson's.

Connecting Discovery to Impact

Together, these projects reflect MJFF's comprehensive strategy to accelerate progress in understanding, treating and preventing Parkinson's disease.

By investing in biological targets, building better tools and resources, and supporting patient-centered innovations, MJFF is creating a pipeline that spans discovery through real-world impact.

Through this integrated approach, MJFF continues working toward a future where Parkinson's is better understood, more effectively treated and ultimately cured.