Professor Gets $900k to Study Parkinson’s

A British professor has been given more than $900,000 by the Parkinson’s Disease Society to study the causes of the nervous system disorder.

Dr. Lynn Bedford of the University of Nottingham was given the award as part of the society’s Career Development Awards Scheme and will spend the next five years researching the origins of the degenerative disease, a news release from the school said Friday.

The society’s director of research and development said researchers hold the key to expanding the level of knowledge regarding the medical condition.

Researchers are the people who make the discoveries and forge the links between different research areas so clearly investing in people is key to furthering our understanding of Parkinson’s, Dr. Kieran Breen said.

Bedford said she was equally happy with her new goal, citing a need for a better understanding of how Parkinson’s afflicts the body.

This novel model of Parkinson’s will be crucial in helping to uncover and study why nerve cells die in the region of the brain affected in Parkinson’s disease, she said.