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Parkinson's Disease Coordinating Committee (PDCC)

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Parkinson's Disease Coordinating Committee Meeting Summary

Members of the Parkinson's Disease Coordinating Committee (PDCC) met October 10, 2002, to share information on their agency's recent Parkinson's-related activities.

Recommendations from the fourth annual meeting of the NINDS Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Disease Research Centers Of Excellence in Boston, Massachusetts August 11-13, 2002, were discussed. Overlapping research needs among the Centers indicate the opportunity for increased coordination in the following areas:

  • Standardization of clinical criteria.
  • Amalgamation of brain banks and standardization of criteria used in specimen collection.
  • Imaging (for both non-human primate models and humans) and sharing of datasets.
  • Sharing and distribution of transgenic mouse models.
  • Sharing and distribution of other animal models.

Other PDCC participants provided updates on their Agency's activities:

  • The Department of Defense (DOD) recently sponsored a New York Academy of Sciences conference on "Parkinson's Disease: The Life Cycle of the Dopamine Neuron". DOD also has funded several projects involving neuroprotection and muscarinic receptors.
  • The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) currently supports a clinical trial of depression in Parkinson's disease at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York.
  • Scientists supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) are continuing their examination of Parkinson's disease families and have developed a transgenic model expressing mutant human alpha-synuclein. Of particular interest, researchers have found a family with none of the known Parkinson's genes.
  • The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is continuing to pursue investigation of the nigral-striatal system, as it relates to Parkinson's disease. NIDA is also continuing to pursue neurotrophic studies including studies on Glial Derived Neurotrophic Factor (GDNF).
  • The National Institute of Environmental Health Science's (NIEHS) Centers established to conduct research on the relationship between exposures to environmental agents and subsequent Parkinson's disease held their first steering committee meeting. NIEHS would like to have a meeting on Parkinson's disease exposures within the next few years.
  • The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) issued a Program Announcement on Quality of Life. NINR also has responded to research project grant applications on care giving for Parkinson's disease.


The next Parkinson's Disease Coordinating Committee meeting is scheduled for Summer, 2002.

Last updated February 09, 2005