Guiding Sleep Science to Benefit Our Community

An international research program jointly organized by the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) and several non-profit organizations is equipping researchers to answer a longstanding question-why are sleep disruptions integral to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's?

The Sleep Contributions to Neurodegeneration Grant Program (SCN) is a partnership between the Alzheimer's Association, MJFF and CurePSP. Together, these organizations provided $2 million to fund four inaugural research projects around the world. MJFF also leveraged a long-standing partnership with the Shake It Up Australia Foundation to provide additional support for a fifth project. The projects will run for two years.

"Results from all five studies will be informative for all communities affected by neurodegenerative diseases," said Brian Fiske, Ph.D., MJFF Chief Scientist. "We hope the findings will pave the way for effective interventions that improve the quality of life for patients and their families."

Pursuing Promising Ideas

Sleep is a concern for people with different types of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and atypical parkinsonian syndromes like progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). People with any of these conditions can experience disruptive sleep years before their diagnosis. For Parkinson's, REM sleep behavior disorder can be one of the first symptoms.

Researchers believe that the biology underlying sleep can both contribute to and be a consequence of the loss of neurons that are a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases. But what exactly is happening in the brain and body, and how can we use that knowledge to help patients?

The five projects center on the role of sleep as a precursor to disease, as well as a symptom of disease. The researchers are hoping that their results can inform ways to treat, slow or prevent neurodegeneration by targeting sleep-related processes. Some teams are studying a part of the brain called the locus coeruleus and how it affects sleep and thinking.Others are assessing whether brain health and disease progression can be accurately monitored at home through wearable sensors that detect sleep patterns. (Information about these projects is available on our collaborators' websites: CurePSP and Shake It Up.)

Highlighting the Issue

The impetus for this collaborative co-funding push goes back to 2022, when a workshop on sleep disturbances in brain-related diseases was organized by one of the preeminent scientific organizations in the United States-the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). The workshop brought together experts from diverse areas, including MJFF's Brian Fiske, Ph.D. and the Alzheimer's Association's Heather Snyder, Ph.D., to review and discuss the science of sleep.

Over two days, the participants brainstormed potential ways to better understand and alleviate sleep disturbances for people with brain-related diseases. (For those interested, proceedings from that workshop are available online.)

"While the NASEM report provided a scientific consensus and fostered ideas, action was still necessary to translate those ideas into potential solutions," said Dr. Fiske. "We were quick to say, 'Yes' when asked to work jointly with the Alzheimer's Association and CurePSP to spearhead a partnership to address these unmet needs."

Continuing the Momentum

Together, the three organizations developed a unique program to solicit proposals from researchers around the world. The SCN received more than 150 responses from 28 countries, highlighting the eagerness of scientists to address these knowledge gaps and help patients.

Eventually, after a rigorous review process, four projects were selected for the SCN. A fifth project was also flagged as promising, so MJFF engaged a long-standing partner, the Shake it Up Australia Foundation, to help extend the reach of the program.

"If these were easy questions, we would have had answers by now," shared Dr. Fiske. "Collaboration among funders is necessary because we need innovation across different areas of science, especially as we're seeing overlapping biology and shared challenges among different neurodegenerative disease communities."

• Linda Huynh, Ph.D.

  Lead Research Editor