Grant: Can microbiome therapy halt Parkinson’s disease?
Associate Professor Marina Romero-Ramos of the Department of Biomedicine and DANDRITE has been awarded DKK 5 million by the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s collaborative programme. Together with the Technical University of Denmark, she can create new insights into the connections between Parkinson’s disease and microbiome therapy in the gut.
With an Exploratory Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme grant behind her, Associate Professor Marina Romero-Ramos will be building bridges between disciplines when, in collaboration with Professor Morten O. Sommer of the Technical University of Denmark, she will be looking for new methods to understand and stop the development of Parkinson’s disease. Their common approach is based on the gut microbiome’s influence on the immune system, which appears to play a significant role in the emergence and development of Parkinson’s disease.
In the project, which the Novo Nordisk Foundation is supporting with DKK 5 million, the researchers will investigate whether the anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective potential of advanced microbiome therapy can halt the development of the disease. They will do this by combining knowledge of synthetic biology and microbiome research from Morten O. Sommer’s laboratory with the deep understanding of the immunological and neurological aspects of Parkinson’s disease that is possessed by Marina Romero-Ramos’ laboratory.
The results of the project will help to consolidate advanced microbiome therapy as a new approach in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
Read more on the DANDRITE website
Contact
Associate Professor Marina Romero-Ramos
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine and DANDRITE
Mobile: + 45 6020 2749
E-mail: mrr@biomed.au.dk