Baylor College of Medicine

SFU lab makes breakthrough in reversing Parkinson’s disease

By: Caitlin Kingsmill, News Writer In July, researchers at SFU’s Verheyen Lab and the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas identified a gene that may reverse symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The Verheyen lab was exploring the role of a gene known as “Cdk8” in fruit flies and its human counterpart gene “CDK19” when they discovered a connection to Parkinson’s. The neurodegenerative disease is currently incurable and affects one in 500 Canadians.  Researchers found that by decreasing the amount of the Cdk8 gene present in the fruit flies, the flies developed movement impairments associated with Parkinson’s. However, their impairments were reduced…

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