UdeM receives $8M to study the link between the immune system and Parkinson’s disease

The American organization Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) has granted $8 million to a research team led by Michel Desjardins, a professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the Université de Montréal, to investigate the role of the immune system in the development of Parkinson’s disease, particularly its links with bacterial and viral infections.

ASAP is a research initiative dedicated to advancing fundamental knowledge about Parkinson’s disease. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, ASAP’s implementation partner, is the source of the grant supporting UdeM’s project.

In collaboration with their colleagues from McGill University, UdeM researchers and members of the Biomedical Innovation Center — Michel Desjardins, professor in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology; Louis-Eric Trudeau, professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology; Nathalie Labrecque, professor in the Department of Medicine; Janelle Drouin-Ouellet, associate professor in the Faculty of Pharmacy; and Pierre Thibault, professor in the Department of Chemistry — will deepen their work on the triggers of the disease, a project initiated in 2020 thanks to an initial grant from ASAP.

This highly competitive funding represents a significant milestone in Parkinson’s disease research, a neurodegenerative condition that affects millions worldwide. In Canada, over 100,000 people live with Parkinson’s disease, and this number is expected to rise by 65% by 2031 due to population aging.