September 23 — September 24

Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease

Name: Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease
Start: 2024-09-23T00:00:00-04:00
End: 2024-09-24T23:59:59-04:00
Location: Van Andel Institute

Registration for this event has closed.

Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease brings together hundreds of scientists, clinicians and people with Parkinson’s to explore the latest Parkinson’s research. This year’s symposium will highlight breakthroughs in our understanding of cell vulnerabilities, with a focus on how these advances inform new therapeutic strategies. Sessions will address:

Non-cell autonomous effects of Parkinson’s genes
Cell vulnerability
Cellular response to aggregates
iPSC modeling
Gene and immunotherapies
Cell replacement therapies.

Van Andel Institute and Cure Parkinson’s are thrilled to once again host Rallying to the Challenge, a meeting designed for and by people with Parkinson’s, advocates and care partners that delves into how the Parkinson’s community can impact and accelerate research.

For questions or to be added to our email list, please contact Courtney Zirkle.

Monday, September 23, 2024

9:00 am

Welcome Remarks

Van Andel Institute

Peter A. Jones, Ph.D., D.Sc. (hon)

Darren Moore, Ph.D.

9:05 am

Introduction of Jay Van Andel Award Honoree

Van Andel Institute

Laurent Roybon, Ph.D.

9:10 am

Jay Van Andel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Parkinson’s Disease Research Lecture

Lund University

Anders Björklund, M.D., Ph.D.

Stem cell therapy for Parkinson´s disease: Where are we now – and what next?

10:10 am

Discussion

10:25 am

Break

Session 1 Chair: Darren Moore, Ph.D.

10:40 am

Ashley Harms, Ph.D.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham

Ashley Harms, Ph.D.

The role of Adaptive Immunity in Parkinson Disease.

11:10 am

Laurie Sanders, Ph.D.

Duke University School of Medicine

Laurie Sanders, Ph.D.

Genome stability and mitochondrial dysfunction in Parkinson’s disease

11:40 am

Lorraine Kalia, M.D.

University of Toronto

Lorraine Kalia, M.D.

Disrupting the interaction between alpha-synuclein and ESCRT to mitigate neurodegeneration

12:10 pm

Discussion

12:25 pm

Lunch and Poster Session

Session 2 Chair: Melissa Hoyer, Ph.D.

2:30 pm

Caleb Webber, Ph.D.

UK Dementia Research Institute

Caleb Webber, Ph.D.

The molecular vulnerability of dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson’s disease.

3:00 pm

Zhenyu Yue, Ph.D.

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Zhenyu Yue, Ph.D.

Profiling cell vulnerability of substantia nigra and characterizing genetic risk factors for Parkinson’s disease.

3:30 pm

Le Zhang, Ph.D.

Yale University School of Medicine

Le Zhang, Ph.D.

Immune Network Dysregulation of the Central Nervous System in Parkinson’s Disease.

4:00 pm

Discussion

4:15 pm

Break

Session 3 Chair: Michael Henderson, Ph.D.

4:30 pm

Richard Wade-Martins, M.A., D.Phil.

University of Oxford

Richard Wade-Martins, M.A., D.Phil.

Disease mechanisms and target discovery in iPSC-derived models of Parkinson’s

5:00 pm

Pam McLean, Ph.D.

Mayo Clinic

Pam McLean, Ph.D.

Cellular response to alpha-synuclein aggregation.

5:30 pm

Omar El-Agnaf, Ph.D.

Qatar Biomedical Research Institute

Omar El-Agnaf, Ph.D.

Quantitative Analysis of Misfolded Alpha-Synuclein: A Biomarker for Synucleinopathies

6:00 pm

Abstract Selected Talk

Mikaela Rosen

The Mount Sinai Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center A comprehensive single-cell RNA sequencing analysis evaluating the role of T-lymphocytes in idiopathic and genetic Parkinson’s disease

6:15 pm

Discussion

6:30 pm

Networking Dinner

Dinner tickets must have been purchased during registration

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Session 4 Chair: Laurent Roybon, Ph.D.

9:00 am

Cornelis Blauwendraat, Ph.D.

National Institutes of Health

Cornelis Blauwendraat, Ph.D.

African ancestry neurodegeneration risk variant disrupts an intronic branchpoint in GBA1.

9:30 am

Sarah Shahmoradian, Ph.D.

UT Southwestern Medical Center

Sarah Shahmoradian, Ph.D.

10:00 am

Edward Fon, M.D., FRCP(C)

McGill University

Edward Fon, M.D., FRCP(C)

Using iPSC Models to Understand the Biology of Parkinson’s Disease.

10:30 am

Discussion

10:45 am

Break

Session 5 Chair: Lena Brundin, M.D., Ph.D.

11:00 am

Liz Ramsburg, Ph.D.

Spark Therapeutics

Liz Ramsburg, Ph.D.

Development and non-clinical testing of an AAV-based therapy for synucleinopathies

11:30 am

Francesca Capotosti, Ph.D.

AC Immune SA

Francesca Capotosti, Ph.D.

Advances in alpha-synuclein PET ligands.

12:00 pm

Pekka Kallunki, Ph.D.

H. Lundbeck A/S

Pekka Kallunki, Ph.D.

Immunotherapy for Parkinson’s Disease and Multiple System Atrophy.

12:30 pm

Discussion

12:45 pm

Elisia Clark, Ph.D., MSTR

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research

1:15 pm

Lunch

2:00 pm

Tom Isaacs Award Presentation

2:15 pm

Report from Rallying to the Challenge

2:30 pm

Report: International Linked Clinical Trials Initiative

2:45 pm

Break

Session 6 Chair: Qiang Zhu, Ph.D.

3:00 pm

Roger A. Barker, B.A., MBBS, MRCP, Ph.D., FMedSci

University of Cambridge

Roger A. Barker, B.A., MBBS, MRCP, Ph.D., FMedSci

Dopamine cell based therapies for Parkinson’s Disease- A European perspective

3:30 pm

Jeffrey Kordower, Ph.D.

Arizona State University

Jeffrey Kordower, Ph.D.

Is Tau the initiator of nigrostriatal degeneration?

4:00 pm

Asuka Morizane, M.D., Ph.D.

Kyoto University

Asuka Morizane, M.D., Ph.D.

Cell therapy trial for Parkinson’s disease with induced pluripotent stem cells

4:30 pm

Abstract Selected Talk

Tommie Cammarano, Central Michigan University

Evaluating the long-term behavioral restoration and dopamine release capacity from mesenchymal-derived neuronal stem cell transplantation due to encouraged functional integration with varying levels of complex limb-use use and optogenetic stimulation in a 6 Ohda rat model of Parkinson’s disease

4:45 pm

Discussion

5:00 pm

Closing Remarks

Van Andel Institute

Dr. Michael Henderson - Parkinson’s Research and Director of VAI Brain Bank

Michael Henderson, Ph.D

Professor of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge

Honorary Consultant Neurologist, Addenbrooke’s Hospital

Dr. Roger Barker is the Professor of Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge and Consultant Neurologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. He runs the regional NHS Huntington’s Disease (HD) as well as clinics in Parkinson’s Disease (PD). His research investigates the heterogeneity of these disorders and its basis, which has informed work he has done on trialling new experimental therapeutics for these conditions including cell and gene therapies as well as drug repurposing. He is lead academic scientist of the ARUK-funded Drug Discovery Institute in Cambridge as well as the John Van Geest Centre for Brain Repair. He is Chair of Neurodegeneration at LifeArc and the current President of the World Parkinson Coalition. He is Co-editor in chief of the Journal of Neurology.

Chief Data Strategy Officer, Coalition for Aligning Science

Dr. Cornelis Blauwendraat is the Chief Data Strategy Officer of the Coalition for Aligning Science (CAS), where he provides strategic guidance on the organization’s data strategy and ensures that data assets are used effectively to achieve CAS’s goals across the initiatives under the Coalition’s management. He also serves as one of the leads for the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2) which is a resource initiative of the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP), aiming to dramatically expand our understanding of the genetic basis of PD and to make that knowledge globally relevant.

Previously, Dr. Blauwendraat was a Stadtman Investigator at National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging on the Bethesda campus. While there, his lab worked on dissecting the genetic basis of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease using large omics datasets with the goal of understanding disease mechanisms and identifying potential future therapeutic targets.

Dr. Blauwendraat received his M.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences from VU University, Netherlands and his Ph.D. in Neuroscience from University of Tübingen, Germany. Both his MSc and PhD were focused on dissecting the complex genetic architecture across neurodegenerative diseases.

Lund University

Associate Vice President, Preclinical Development

AC Immune SA

During Dr. Capotosti’s ten years of experience in biotech, she has focused on the discovery, preclinical and early clinical development of new therapeutic and diagnostic agents for neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. She currently leads the translational science group providing support and strategic guidance to multiple projects covering various targets, different therapeutic approaches, and spanning from discovery to Phase 2 clinical development.

Qatar Biomedical Research Institute

Dr. Omar El-Agnaf earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from Queen’s University Belfast in 1997. He completed postdoctoral research at both Queen’s University Belfast and St. George’s Medical School, London. In 2001, Dr. El-Agnaf was awarded a prestigious research fellowship from the Parkinson’s Disease Society-UK to establish his research group at Lancaster University. His career later took him to the College of Medicine at UAE University in 2004, and subsequently to HBKU at Qatar Foundation in 2014.

Dr. El-Agnaf is recognized as a pioneer in the field of Parkinson’s disease research. His groundbreaking work includes the discovery of α-synuclein’s role in Parkinson’s disease pathology, and his research has significantly influenced the development of diagnostic and therapeutic tools for neurodegenerative diseases. He has received numerous grants from leading international funding bodies and assembled a world-class research team. Dr. El-Agnaf’s work has led to several notable inventions with potential applications for diagnostic and therapeutic applications for Parkinson’s disease and related disorders.

A frequent speaker at international conferences, Dr. El-Agnaf serves on the editorial boards of several scientific journals and continues to contribute extensively to the field of neurodegenerative disease research.

Scientific Director, Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (The Neuro)
Canada Research Chair in Parkinson’s Disease
Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery
McGill University

Dr. Edward A. Fon is a neurologist-scientist at the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (The Neuro) and a Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University. He is the Scientific Director of The Neuro, the Director of the FRQS Quebec Parkinson Network and co-Director of the Canadian Open Parkinson Network (C-OPN). His research focuses on the molecular and cellular events leading to Parkinson’s disease (PD). His laboratory has made contributions to understanding the function and cell biology of PD genes and in understanding how defects in these genes lead to PD. He has established the infrastructure at The Neuro to study these genes and pathways in human patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can be differentiated into neurons, glia and 3D brain organoids. He is currently using these iPSC systems to establish a pipeline to better understand the role of lesser-studied PD genes, identified in recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS), in PD pathogenesis. As Scientific Director of The Neuro, he oversees its platforms including the Clinical Biological Imaging and Genetic repository (C-BIGr) and iPSC/CRISPR Early Drug Discovery Unit (EDDU), all under the auspices of The Neuro’s Open Science principles.

Associate Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Ashley S. Harms, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the Department of Neurology and the Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics. As a dedicated neuroimmunologist, Dr. Harms studies the cellular and immunological mechanisms underlying the initiation and progression of alpha-synucleinopathy disorders. Using novel genetic and viral model approaches to study the role of immune cells subsets, her lab focuses on how the protein alpha-synuclein contributes to activation of microglia, infiltration of peripheral immune cells and subsequent activation of the immune response in Parkinson disease (PD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA).

Associate Professor, University of Toronto

Lorraine Kalia, M.D., Ph.D., FRCPC, is an associate professor and clinician-scientist in the Division of Neurology at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the Krembil Research Institute of the University Health Network in Toronto, Canada. She holds appointments with the University of Toronto’s Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases and Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology. She is also a staff neurologist in the Morton and Gloria Shulman Movement Disorders Clinic and the Edmond J. Safra Program in Parkinson’s Disease at the Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network. Her clinical work and research program focus on Parkinson’s disease and related movement disorders. With an eye always on the clinic, she heads a research team focused on elucidating the critical molecular mechanisms responsible for neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease and identifying therapeutic agents that can modulate these molecular targets. She is co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease and co-chair of the MDS Scientific Issues Committee and Basic Science Interest Group. She holds the Wolfond-Krembil Chair in Parkinson’s Disease Research.

Research Fellow in Protein Aggregation, Folding and Clearance

H. Lundbeck A/S

Dr. Pekka Kallunki is research scientist with 25 years experience in pharma working at H. Lundbeck A/S. He is a project lead on a number of internal projects at Lundbeck, as well as external funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation and the European Union. His main interest is alpha-synuclein, and he developed in vitro, cellular and transgenic models for alpha-synuclein aggregation, and inhibition of seeding and aggregation by antibodies. For last fifteen years he is research project lead on therapeutic antibody for alpha-synuclein, which is now in clinical development for multiple system atrophy, entering phase III in near future.

Founding Director/ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center (NDRC)

The Charlene and J. Orin Distinguished Director at the Biodesign Institute Professor of Life Sciences

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University

Dr. Jeffrey Kordower is the founding director of the ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center and endowed chair as The Charlene and J. Orin Edson Distinguished Director at the Biodesign Institute at ASU. He has been a pioneer in the field of neural transplantation techniques and his pathbreaking investigations into the underpinnings of neurodegenerative disease have made him a leader in the field. Kordower’s interests include the study of gene and stem cell therapies, disease pathogenesis including the morphological and molecular changes during the course of neurodegeneration, learning and memory, and aging. He has also been a pioneer in the field of neural transplantation techniques. He comes to ASU from the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, where he was faculty member for more than 30 years.

Pam J. McLean, Ph.D.

Professor of Neuroscience

Mayo Clinic

Pam McLean, Ph.D., is a Professor of Neuroscience at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville. Dr. McLean received her Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from Boston University School of Medicine. She received post-doctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She has been at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville since 2012. Dr. McLean’s research interests revolve around understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration in Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies and related neurodegenerative disorders. In particular, her research group studies the role of alpha-synuclein, which misfolds and aggregates in brain regions that are critically involved in these diseases.

Director, Department of Regenerative Medicine, Center for Clinical Research and Innovation, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital

Asuka Morizane received his M.D. in 1996 from Tokyo Medical and Dental University, and his Ph.D. in 2004 from Kyoto University. He started his clinical training at the neurosurgical department of Kyoto University Hospital in 1996. After several years of clinical work, he started his research as a Ph.D. student (2001-2004). He worked as a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Patrik Burndin’s Lab at Lund University, Sweden (2006-8). After that, he joined Prof. Jun Takahashi’s lab at the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, and worked as an associate professor until 2021. He was a core team member that conducted the clinical trial of the cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease with iPSCs that started in 2018, in Kyoto, Japan. He is currently a director of the Department of Regenerative Medicine, Center for Clinical Research and Innovation, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital. Over the last 15 years, he has focused on the clinical application of stem cells for Parkinson’s disease, especially on neural differentiation from pluripotent stem cells and transplantation in animal models such as rodents and non-human primates.

Head of Neuroscience Research

Spark Therapeutics

Dr. Ramsburg is an immunologist with many years experience in the development of vaccines and genetic medicines. Dr. Ramsburg began her academic career at Duke University where she was a member of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and the Duke Virology Center. While at Duke Liz led a group aiming to develop vaccines and other countermeasures for emerging infections and HIV. In 2013, Liz joined Janssen Pharmaceuticals in the Netherlands, where she supported efforts to develop vaccines and gene therapies for neurodegenerative diseases. Liz joined Spark Therapeutics in 2021 as Head of Neuroscience Research where she manages all preclinical research within the Neuroscience therapeutic area.

Associate Professor of Neurology, Duke University School of Medicine

Scientific Director, Neurology Clinical Research Organization

Faculty Lead, Interventional Clinical Trials in Neurodegenerative Diseases at Duke Clinical Research Institute

Dr. Sanders is an associate professor within the Department of Neurology with a secondary appointment in Pathology at Duke University Medical Center. She is also a faculty member of the Duke Center for Neurodegeneration and Neurotherapeutics, Divisions of Movement Disorders and Translational Brain Sciences. Dr. Sanders received her B.S. from Cornell University and Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from the University at Buffalo. She completed her postdoctoral training in the Pittsburgh Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Pittsburgh, during which she was recognized with The First Parkinson’s Action Network Postdoctoral Advocacy Prize. Dr. Sanders also completed a Masters Certificate in Clinical Research through The Institute for Clinical Research Education from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In 2015 she was granted the William N. & Bernice E. Bumpus Foundation Innovation award for high risk/high reward ideas that could advance our understanding of Parkinson’s disease. She is the recipient of the 2020 Environmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society Young Scientist Award. Dr. Sanders leads a translational neuroscience laboratory focused on age-related neurodegenerative diseases. She is also the owner of several awarded or pending patents in the development of biomarkers and neurotherapeutics. Dr. Sanders as the Faculty Lead directs the Interventional Clinical Trials in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. In this capacity she currently leads a Phase II/III clinical trial for an Alzheimer’s disease therapeutic, as well as an early phase clinical trial with Parkinson’s disease participants.

Assistant Professor, UT Southwestern Medical Center

Sarah Shahmoradian received her Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biophysics from the Baylor College of Medicine in 2013 working in the lab of Wah Chiu, where she applied cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and tomography (cryo-ET) to uncover new structural mechanisms and features of neurodegenerative-relevant proteins. Her work explained how the eukaryotic chaperonin TRiC/CCT inhibits aggregation of mutant Huntingtin fibrils in vitro, structurally revealed how the N17 and proline-rich domains impact the formation of mutant Huntingtin fibrils, and the near-native structural basis of alpha-synuclein protein aggregation nucleating through liquid–liquid phase separation in vitro.

She completed her Roche Postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of Henning Stahlberg at the Biozentrum University of Basel, discovering that membranes and lipidic material are abundant in Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites (LB/LN) of Parkinson’s diseased-human brains. This caused a major re-evaluation of in vitro modeling of their formation, and emphasizes aberrant alpha synuclein-lipid interactions in Parkinson’s disease.

Dr. Shahmoradian joined the UTSW faculty in 2021. Her lab applies cryo-electron tomography and correlative light and electron microscopy to study the macromolecular basis of protein aggregation and membrane remodeling in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases within neuronal systems. Her group also develops and applies new interfaces and enabling technologies to push the boundaries of these techniques.

Professor, Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre and University of Oxford

Richard is Professor of Molecular Neuroscience at the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre and Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at the University of Oxford. His research is focused on better understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease. His work combines the development of improved induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neuronal culture models with studies on human post-mortem brain tissue and the generation and analysis of novel transgenic and knockout mouse models. His work addresses the study of the functional and genetic mechanisms underlying key neurodegeneration disease genes, such as alpha-synuclein (SNCA), microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT), leucine rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) and glucocerebrosidase (GBA). Richard heads the Laboratory of Molecular Neurodegeneration; he has led the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre, a multi-disciplinary translational research initiative, since its launch in 2010; is member of the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) Consortium; and leads the iPSC Dementia Stem Cell Initiative in the UK Dementia Platform.

Richard graduated from the University of Cambridge in Natural Sciences (Genetics) in 1995 and then moved to the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford for a D.Phil. followed by a Wellcome Trust Fellowship. In 2000 Richard moved to Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School as a Wellcome Trust Travelling Research Fellow. He returned to Oxford and in 2004 was awarded a Wellcome Trust Research Career Development Fellowship and started his own group. In 2007 Richard moved to the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, as a University Lecturer, was appointed an Associate Professor in 2014, and full Professor in 2015.

Director of Informatics, UK Dementia Research Institute

After obtaining his Ph.D. from the European Bioinformatics Institute and Cambridge University, Prof. Webber joined Oxford University, contributing to almost all of the major large-scale genome projects. The group he established in Oxford in 2011 gained insights into complex neurological disorders using functional, integrative and network genomics, combined with statistical genetics and iPSC modelling. In 2018, he joined the UK Dementia Research Institute (UK-DRI) where his programme generates and interprets large-scale molecular data sets from human tissue in order to identify genes and processes that contribute to many complex neurodegenerative disorders, and then validates findings within iPSC models. Within the UK-DRI, he was appointed as the national Director of Informatics.

Professor, Director of Parkinson’s Disease Neurobiology, Departments of Neurology and Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Dr. Zhenyu Yue is the Alex and Shirley Aidekman Professor, Director of the Center for Parkinson’s Disease Neurobiology and Director of Basic and Translational Research of Movement Disorders, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He received his Ph.D. at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of Rutgers and was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Postdoc Fellow at The Rockefeller University.

Dr. Yue reported the first mammalian autophagy gene function in vivo and pioneered autophagy research in central nervous system. His work provided insights of dysfunctional autophagy in neurons and glia linked to neurodegenerative diseases. Dr. Yue established BAC transgenic LRRK2 models for Parkinson’s disease, which facilitates the disease mechanism elucidation and therapeutics development. Dr. Yue’s work revealed the transcriptomics landscape of substantia nigra and the heterogeneity and vulnerability of dopamine neurons in Parkinson’s brains. Dr. Yue’s lab employs multi-disciplinary approaches to study membrane trafficking pathways including autophagy-lysosomal functions and synaptic vesicle trafficking.

His laboratory investigates cellular and molecular mechanism underlying neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), develops preclinical models, and identify biomarkers and therapeutic targets for neurological diseases. Dr. Yue has contributed 160 SCI publications including original research articles and reviews/commentaries with a total of 37,000+ citations and h-index of 79 (Google Scholar). He serves as an associate editor for the journals Autophagy, npj Parkinson’s Disease, and Journal of Parkinson’s Disease.

Assistant Professor of Neurology and of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine

Dr. Zhang is an Assistant Professor of Neurology and of Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine. Her research focuses on the immune responses of the central nervous system in neurodegenerative disease, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, using cutting-edge single-cell technologies. Her lab develops novel single-nucleus and spatial-transcriptomic tools for comparative genomic and cellular analyses of human neurological disorders to identify disease- and cell-type-specific features of neuroinflammation and neuroimmune interactions. She is the recipient of NIH NIDA Avenir Award and NIH Blueprint for Neuroscience Interoception Research Initiative Early-Stage Investigator Award.

Dr. Zhang obtained her B.S. in Biological Science from Peking University and her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Hong Kong. Dr. Zhang continued her training as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and as a research fellow at Harvard Medical School. After a short journey at Pfizer in the R&D of neuroscience, Dr. Zhang joined Yale School of Medicine leading single cell research in neurological disorders and started her current position as Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology in 2020.

When is the Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease symposium and Rallying to the Challenge meeting? How much does it cost?
Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease and Rallying to the Challenge will take place Sept. 23–24, 2024. Registration will open in spring 2024 and close in September 2024.

$50 for trainees (graduate students and postdoctoral fellows)
$100 for non-trainees

How do I attend the Scientific Networking Dinner?
This year’s Scientific Networking Dinner will be held on September 23rd at the Amway Grand Plaza. Tickets are required and may be added during the registration process. Dinner and drinks are included in the fee.

What if I need or other accommodations?
Please contact Courtney Zirkle to discuss any special accommodation needs.

How do I become a sponsor?
Please contact Courtney Zirkle for more information on sponsorship opportunities.

What is the refund policy?
Refund requests must be made in writing to the Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease by Sept. 14, 2024. After Sept. 14, refund requests will not be honored. If you are not able to attend, a substitute may attend in your place. The name and email address of the substitute must be emailed to Courtney Zirkle prior to Sept. 14, 2024.

Code of Conduct Guidelines
We are dedicated to providing a harassment-free, non-discriminatory symposium experience for all participants, regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, pregnancy, height, weight, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or other personal characteristics covered by applicable law. We will not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. We expect participants at our events to engage in constructive and professional discussions at all times. Harassment can include unwelcomed attention, inappropriate comments or jokes that refer to gender differences, sexual topics, requests for dates, or other sexual activities as well as the use of language that may demean or degrade individuals. These behaviors are not appropriate for any of our conference venues, including talks, workshops, networking sessions, poster sessions, social networking platforms, and other online media platforms. Any participant violating these guidelines will be removed from the symposium at the discretion of the conference organizers.

Anyone who has experienced the above, or who has witnessed such behavior, should notify Courtney Zirkle. Anonymous reporting may also be done through the EthicsPoint Hotline.

Jay Van Andel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Parkinson’s Disease Research

The Jay Van Andel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Parkinson’s Disease Research was established in 2012 in memory of Van Andel Institute founder Jay Van Andel, who battled Parkinson’s disease for a decade before his death in 2004. The award is given to scientists who have made outstanding contributions to Parkinson’s disease research and who have positively impacted human health.

About Jay Van Andel

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Jay Van Andel, perhaps best known as the co-founder of Amway, founded Van Andel Institute in 1996 with his wife Betty. Mr. Van Andel saw opportunity in the landscape of his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and imagined a thriving center for biomedical research, health care and the life sciences industry. He forged ahead in pursuing this dream despite his diagnosis of Parkinson’s, which eventually took his life in 2004.

In his autobiography, An Enterprising Life, Mr. Van Andel wrote, “Research into the causes and potential cures for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other diseases is promising but requires much more support…I hope that my own contributions to medical research will be followed by increased support from other entrepreneurs, charitable foundations, and concerned individuals.”

Past Winners

2023 — Virginia Y.M. Lee, Ph.D.
2022 — Anthony E. Lang, O.C., M.D., FRCPC, FAAN, FCAHS, FRSC
2021 — Ted Dawson, M.D., Ph.D.
2020 — Daniela Berg, M.D., and Ron Postuma, M.D., M.Sc.
2019 — Ellen Sidransky, M.D.
2018 — K. Ray Chaudhuri, M.D., FRCP, D.Sc.
2017 — J. William Langston, M.D.
2016 — Stanley Fahn, M.D.
2015 — Robert Nussbaum, M.D., and Maria Grazia Spillantini, Ph.D., FMedSci, FRS
2014 — Andrew John Lees, M.D., FRCP, FMedSci
2013 — Alim-Louis Benabid, M.D., Ph.D.
2012 — Andrew Singleton, Ph.D.

Monday, September 23, 2024
8:00 am EST to 5:00 pm EST

9:00 a.m. – Jay Van Andel Award:
Anders Björklund, M.D., Ph.D.
Presented in Tomatis Auditorium during Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease

10:00 a.m. – Welcome to Rallying to the Challenge
Shaun Hindley

10:05 a.m. – What do we mean by “Cell Vulnerabilities and Therapeutics?”
What will be discussed during Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease and why is it important
Simon Stott, Ph.D. — Cure Parkinson’s

10:25 a.m. – What do cells do in response to protein aggregation?
Thomas Goralski, M.S. — Henderson Lab, Van Andel Institute

10:45 a.m. – Q&A

10:50 a.m. – Break

11:10 a.m. – What can go wrong with cells in Parkinson’s 1: Genetics
Vanessa Howland, Van Andel Institute

11:30 a.m. – Genetics as a treatment target: an overview of what’s going on

11:40 a.m. – Q&A

11:45 a.m. – Break

12:00 p.m. – What can go wrong with cells in Parkinson’s? Mitochondrial DNA damage — a biomarker for PD?
Laurie Sanders, Ph.D., Duke University

12:25 p.m. – Mitochondria as a treatment target: An overview of what’s going on

12:30 p.m. – Lunch

1:10 p.m. – How can we see if a treatment might work in humans? iPSC cell modelling?
Edward Fon, M.D. FRCP(C), McGill University

1:30 p.m. – How the MiND Program is contributing to our knowledge about Parkinson’s — Types of biological sampling
Erin Williams, Ph.D. — MiND Program, Van Andel Institute

1:50 p.m. – Q&A

2:00 p.m. – Break

2:20 p.m. – Critical Path for Parkinson’s — What data is collected in clinical trials and why is that data so important?
Martijn Muller, Ph.D., Critical Path Institute

2:35 p.,. – How can we see if a treatment is working? — Lumbar Punctures: what, why and wherefore?
Anaya Navangul, M.Res. — Cure Parkinson’s

2:55 p.m. – LP survey discussion, outline and feedback
Anaya Navangul, M.Res. — Cure Parkinson’s

3:15 p.m. – Focus group: Disease Modification
What does it feel like?
What does it look like?
How can we collect evidence of change?
Facilitated by CP team with Martijn Muller

3:40 p.m. – Break

4:10 p.m. – Resources that would be useful to explain Disease Modification and Biological sampling? What exists, where are the gaps, room for improvement?
Katelyn Beissert, M.S. — Cure Parkinson’s

4:30 p.m. – Feedback from focus groups and compilation of needs (biological sampling)

4:55 p.m. – Closing remarks. Day 1 ends.
Shaun Hindley

Tuesday, September 24, 2024
9:30 am EST to 2:00 pm EST

9:30 a.m. – Arrival and tea/coffee

9:45 a.m. – Welcome and opening remarks

9:50 a.m. – What is gene therapy?
Matthias Luz, M.D., Asklepios BioPharmaceutical

10:10 a.m. – Ask Bio: AAV2 GDNF
Professor Alan Whone

10:45 a.m. – Break

11:00 a.m. – What is cell replacement?
Roger Barker, MBBS, MRCP, Ph.D. — University of Cambridge

11:40 a.m. – What cell replacement and gene therapy studies are underway? What stage are they at and how do the approaches compare?

11:55 a.m. – Q&A

12:00 p.m. – Lunch

1:15 p.m. – Guy Deacon: Running on Empty
Helen Matthews

1:45 p.m. – Move to main auditorium

2:00 p.m. – Tom Isaacs Award

2:15 p.m. – Report from Rallying

2:30 p.m. – Report: International Linked Clinical Trials Initiative

Poster abstracts may be submitted during registration, which will open in spring 2024. For questions or to be added to our email list, please contact Courtney Zirkle.

Eligibility
Students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty and research staff are welcome to submit an abstract. If the number of submitted poster abstracts exceeds the space, the organizers will select the abstracts that are most relevant to the conference theme.

Abstract format
Submitted abstracts should represent original research. The title should be brief and descriptive, and the body should include rationale, methods and results. Please prepare abstracts using the below template.

Abstract submission
Poster abstracts should be submitted during the registration process.

Questions?
Questions regarding abstract submission, posters, or the poster session can be directed to Courtney Zirkle.

TITLE OF ABSTRACT IN ALL CAPS (STYLE = TITLE)

Presenting Author^1,2, Other Author¹, and Last Author^1,3(Style = Authors)

¹First Dept., Institution, City, State, Country, ²Second Dept., Institution, City, State, Country, and ³Last Dept., Institution, City, State, Country (Style = Affiliations)

Body of abstract using 300 words or less. Define each abbreviation at first use. All fonts should be Arial, 11 pt. and text should be single-spaced. Once you have filled in this template, choose File>Save As and save your file as a Word document (.doc or .docx) with the filename lastname_abstract. (Style = Body)

EXAMPLE

THE ROLE OF A-SYNUCLEIN IN PARKINSON’S DISEASE PATHOLOGY

Joe Smith¹

¹Department of Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, United States

The pathological hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD) is protein-rich, intraneuronal inclusions known as Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, which are composed primarily of aggregates of misfolded a-synuclein (a-syn) protein. Recent studies suggest…

Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease brings together hundreds of scientists, clinicians and people with Parkinson’s to explore the latest in Parkinson’s disease translational research.

For questions or to be added to our email list, please contact Courtney Zirkle.

About Grand Challenges

Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease is an annual scientific symposium that brings together scientists, clinicians, advocates and people with Parkinson’s to explore the latest innovative Parkinson’s disease research.

Since it was established in 2012, Grand Challenges has grown into a multi-faceted symposium that draws attendees from across the globe. Previous themes have explored the role of non-motor symptoms, genes and pathways, disease-modifying therapies, inflammation, clinical trials and drug development.

Programs from previous years

2024 Scientific Program Committee

Darren Moore, Ph.D. (Co-Chair) — Van Andel Institute
Michael Henderson, Ph.D. (Co-Chair) — Van Andel Institute
Laurent Roybon, Ph.D. (Co-Chair) — Van Andel Institute
Omar M. El-Agnaf, Ph.D. — Qatar Biomedical Research Institute
Lorraine Kalia, M.D., Ph.D., FRCPC — University of Toronto
Mina Ryten, M.D., Ph.D. — University College London, Queen Square Institute of Neurology
Sarah Shahmoradian, Ph.D. — UT Southwestern Medical Center
Soania Mathur, B.Sc., M.D., CCFP — Patient Advocate

Local Planning Committee

Kayla Habermehl — Science Communications Specialist III, Van Andel Institute
Courtney Zirkle — Events and Meeting Specialist II, Van Andel Institute

For more information, please contact Courtney Zirkle..

About Rallying to the Challenge

In 2014, VAI and U.K.-based research charity The Cure Parkinson’s Trust held the first Rallying to the Challenge meeting in conjunction with Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease. Rallying to the Challenge drew more than 100 influential advocates, people with Parkinson’s, and caregivers to the Institute to discuss how people with Parkinson’s can improve the clinical trial process. Over two days of talks, discussions and working groups, Rallying attendees laid the foundation for the beginnings of a patient charter and comprehensive toolkit to improve patient involvement in trials and to ensure their voices are heard.

About Van Andel Institute

Van Andel Institute (VAI) is committed to improving the health and enhancing the lives of current and future generations through cutting-edge biomedical research and innovative educational offerings. Established in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1996 by the Van Andel family, VAI is now home to more than 500 scientists, educators and support staff, who work with a growing number of national and international collaborators to foster discovery. The Institute’s scientists study the origins of cancer, Parkinson’s and other diseases and translate their findings into breakthrough prevention and treatment strategies. Our educators develop inquiry-based approaches for K-12 education to help students and teachers prepare the next generation of problem-solvers, while our Graduate School offers a rigorous, research-intensive Ph.D. program in molecular and cellular biology.