Her project, T3: Track, Trap, and Tag Toxic Proteins for Early Parkinson Detection, focuses on developing new analytical techniques to detect harmful protein clumps at an early stage.
More than ten million people worldwide live with Parkinson’s disease. Due to the aging population, that number will continue to rise in the coming decades. By the time the first symptoms - such as trembling hands or movement difficulties - become apparent, a large portion of the nerve cells that produce dopamine are often already irreversibly damaged. As a result, treatments can slow the progression of the disease or alleviate symptoms, but they can no longer repair the damage.
Ariadni Geballa Koukoula wants to change that by detecting the disease much earlier. Years before people develop symptoms, proteins in the brain begin to misfold and clump together. These toxic protein clumps play a key role in the development of Parkinson’s, but are difficult to detect reliably using current techniques.
Three advanced analytical techniques
In the T3 project, she combines three advanced analytical techniques that have never before been used together for this purpose. The first technique tracks in real time how proteins begin to clump together. Next, suspicious protein clusters are captured and flagged using a biosensor. Finally, a third analytical method is used to determine exactly which proteins are involved. By combining these steps, the research aims to lay the groundwork for a reliable method to detect the disease at a very early stage, possibly even with a blood test. T3 is not the cure, but it aims to lay the analytical foundation for catching the disease before symptoms appear.
An early diagnosis gives doctors and researchers the opportunity to initiate treatments sooner and allow patients to participate earlier in clinical trials of new therapies. In addition, the analytical methods and datasets developed within the project can also be used by other researchers to better understand Parkinson’s disease and develop new treatments.
The Veni grant is among the most competitive funding schemes for early-career researchers in the Netherlands. Only about 15% of applicants are selected, and with this individual grant, they can further develop their own line of research and explore innovative scientific ideas.