The Finnish Parkinson Foundation Supports PhD Completion with Grants
This year, the foundation’s annual grant awards focused on supporting the final stages of PhD dissertations while continuing funding for well-advanced movement disorder research. A special three-year grant of €50,000 was awarded to Šárka Lehtonen, Research Director of the A.I.Virtanen Institute for Molecular Medicine in Kuopio. In total, grants amounting to €155,800 were awarded.
The dissertation grants were primarily allocated to projects where the PhD thesis is expected to be completed this year or next. Support was granted, for example, to a research project in Turku investigating the role of the substantia nigra in atypical Parkinson’s disease and the predictive value of non-motor symptoms and tremor in disease onset. Additionally, funding continued for a Helsinki-based study examining the role of gut Desulfovibrio bacteria in the disease, as well as the potential positive effects of dietary supplements. Research on sleep and brain growth factors also received continued funding. Furthermore, an Oulu-based research line focusing on the composition of gut-derived vesicles was granted additional funding, with the study now expanding to include bacteria from the mouth and nose.
A special grant was awarded in Kuopio to Šárka Lehtonen’s group, which investigates the mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease based on the so-called “body-first” theory. The study utilizes dual microchambers, where intestinal cells can be placed in one chamber and brain dopaminergic neurons in the other. The intestinal cells can be stimulated with fibrils or patient-derived stool extracts already available. The group employs a wide range of biochemical and molecular biology research methods. Additionally, in this funding category, a one-time grant was awarded to cover material costs for two patient studies: a research team in Turku is using body-mapping techniques to visualize bodily sensations in Parkinson’s disease, while a group in Oulu is investigating mitochondrial function in the muscles of Parkinson’s patients.
Other grants support endocytosis research in Turku and a Kuopio-based study using a mouse model to examine the links between retinal diseases and movement disorders. In Helsinki, research focuses on remote monitoring of Parkinson’s disease and the success of brain stimulation based on previous study records.
Travel grants were awarded for participation in several European conferences, including the Alzheimer/Parkinson conference in Vienna. Additionally, three trips to the United States for the Gordon Conference were funded, as well as participation in conferences in China and Hawaii (Movement Disorders).
Overall, 44% of applicants received a positive grant decision, while 53% of travel grant applicants were approved.
This article was translated by ChatGPT.