We are delighted to announce that the MRC Brain Network Dynamics Unit has received competitive supplementary funding from the Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative to continue a substantial multi-year research collaboration that aims to advance the understanding of brain cell and circuit dysfunction in Parkinson’s.

The extended international collaboration builds on the MRC Unit’s fruitful interactions with colleagues at the University of Oxford, the University of Boston, USA, the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, the University of Peking, China, and Stanford University, USA, as well as with other members of ASAP’s Collaborative Research Network. To support this collaboration, which started in 2021, the MRC Unit will leverage its leading expertise in high-resolution in vivo phenotyping of rodent models of Parkinson’s.

ASAP is a coordinated research initiative to advance targeted basic research for Parkinson’s disease. Its mission is to accelerate the pace of discovery and inform the path to a cure through collaboration, research-enabling resources, and data sharing. The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research is ASAP’s implementation partner and issued the supplemental grant.

Professor Peter Magill, who will continue to lead the Unit’s contribution to the collaboration, commented, “This presents another exciting opportunity to enhance the Unit’s strong portfolio of discovery and translational neuroscience research. We look forward to progressing our collaborative effort to define why, how and when brain network dynamics go awry in Parkinson’s.”