What We Fund: $67 Million for PD Diagnostics and Treatment Pipeline

The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) announces 73 grants totaling $67 million awarded in August and September 2025.

These grants cover themes ranging from clearer Parkinson's disease definitions and advances in the treatment pipeline to the acceleration of clinical trials and new studies that educate clinicians and help people living with PD make informed decisions about their care. Find more on MJFF Funded Studies here.

Clearer Disease Definition and Diagnosis

MJFF continues to fund research to advance emerging biology-informed definition and diagnosis of PD. As part of a larger set of grants funded through the Neuronal Alpha-synuclein Disease Endotypes Program, researchers are working to learn more about the biological features that may distinguish the disease, referred to as "endotypes."

Using the Neuronal alpha-Synuclein Disease Integrated Staging System (NSD-ISS), scientists funded by MJFF are investigating endotypes based on the presence of the protein alpha-synuclein, which clumps in the brain and is a hallmark of most forms of PD. Their work includes an examination of links between alpha-synuclein and other neurodegenerative disease-related proteins, like the amyloid-beta and tau proteins found in Alzheimer's. Research on these endotypes holds potential to shed light on the distinct biology underlying these diseases and may one day result in more personalized therapies.

Better Treatment Pipelines

MJFF also aggressively funds promising research through its Therapeutics Pipeline Program. This initiative funds research on therapies to address the unmet needs of people with PD and potentially prevent, delay or stop disease. In this cycle, the program supported advances in small molecule research, nanoparticles for drug delivery and immunotherapies.

One line of investigation focuses on PINK1, an enzyme that normally helps clear away mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses inside cells, when they become damaged. In PD, mutations in PINK1 cause this process to breakdown, resulting in a buildup of the damaged mitochondria that can result in the death of dopamine-producing neurons. In pre-clinical research, scientists are testing MTK-458, a small molecule that activates PINK1 to enhance mitochondrial cleanup and prevent damage to brain cells.

New immunotherapies are another MJFF focus area. Researchers received funding to study the safety and efficacy of a monoclonal antibody drug known as glunomab to boost the immune system to fight disease. By blocking the interaction of two proteins, the drug aims to reduce inflammation in the brain and the loss of dopamine-producing neurons, potentially slowing the progression of Parkinson's disease.

Funding also went to researchers studying tiny nanoparticles designed to deliver NM-101, another monoclonal antibody, across the blood-brain barrier to reduce brain inflammation associated with PD. The research uses DNA barcoding, which places a tiny DNA tag on each nanoparticle to determine which is the most effective for drug delivery.

Faster Clinical Trials

MJFF supports research that can accelerate clinical trials, including urgently needed tools to identify the right participants based on their symptoms or biological features and measure changes in disease over time and response to treatment.

Researchers are assessing new imaging techniques to detect early signs of PD in the brain. For example, scientists are developing PET imaging tracers specially designed to interact with PD-related protein targets in the brain and reveal information about them on 3D scans. One new tracer highlights SV2C, a protein present on the connections between brain cells, or synapses. Levels of SV2C are thought to be lower in people with PD than in people without PD. Scans that can visualize SV2C levels could help detect early changes to brain cells, track PD progression and monitor how treatments affect the brain.

MJFF also funded research to test whether a new high-resolution PET imaging camera, called Neuroexplorer, can detect a radioactive tracer that binds to tau, a protein that can misfold and abnormally clump in PD and other neurodegenerative diseases The tracer and PET technology are being studied to gain insights on how tau may clump in different forms of PD, detect early disease-related changes in the brain and monitor PD over time.

Research developing the alpha-synuclein seed amplification assays (aSyn-SAA) biomarker test, which detects Parkinson's hallmark misfolded abnormal alpha-synuclein protein in spinal fluid, also remains a high priority for its potential to accelerate clinical trials and improve care. Research funded through the SAA Innovation Program can help make the aSyn-SAA more useful by adapting it to use easier-to-collect biological samples, for example blood or tear fluid. Researched funded through the program researchers also focuses on quantifying results, to make it possible to measure disease progression and assess how well treatments are working.

Catalyzed Communities

Funding from MJFF also brings together researchers, clinicians and people with PD and their loved ones through projects that encourage collaboration and improve PD care.

For example, the Gait Advisors Leading Outcomes for Parkinson's committee, an advisory MJFF research committee, awarded funding to support a pilot educational program that gives physical therapists opportunities to learn about gait impairments - the walking and balance problems that can occur in PD, reducing mobility and increasing the risk of falls. By enhancing knowledge of PD gait impairments and treatment strategies to reduce their impact, the program aims to improve care and health-related quality of life for more people with PD and foster additional research that leads to better treatments in this area.

Researchers are also developing a microsimulation model, called VALUE-PD, to predict how potential new PD therapies that slow or stop disease progression could improve the health and finances of people living with PD and their caregivers over time. This knowledge can play an important role in informing decisions that people with PD and their caregivers make about treatment - and potentially encourage financial support to cover treatments and inspire novel future treatments.

An Expansive Portfolio

These projects demonstrate a broad approach to PD research at MJFF, and make up a portion of funded research, which extends from individually selected projects to large studies and initiatives, such as the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). 

To learn more about active funding mechanisms at MJFF, visit our Funding Opportunities page.

• Heather Lindsey

  Freelance Writer