The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) and seven industry partners—Amicus Therapeutics, ApoPharma, Biogen Idec, Eli Lilly and Co., Pfizer, PsychoGenics, and Upsher-Smith Laboratories—have organized a consortium with the goal of growing the foundation’s efforts to better understand existing tools such as preclinical models, antibodies, and cell lines and their use in laboratory experiments, as well as to develop new tools to address unmet challenges.
The Parkinson’s Disease Research Tools Consortium was formed based on input and feedback to MJFF from tool developers and end users in pursuit of more robust tools for the Parkinson’s research community. Through regular teleconferences, consortium members will share ideas on how to improve and learn more about existing tools and on how to fill current gaps. After consensus on priority areas, projects will be co-led by MJFF scientific and operational staff as well as one industry consortium member. Contract research organizations will conduct the projects.
“Laboratory tools are the building blocks of research, and easing the burden of producing or obtaining these resources frees investigators to focus on finding the cure for Parkinson’s disease,” said Todd Sherer, Ph.D., CEO of MJFF, in a statement.
