Expert to speak on latest Parkinson鈥檚 Disease research at the 天美传媒
Wed 14 May, 2014
There is an 鈥渦rgent need鈥 to create artificial human brain cells in order to understand how Parkinson鈥檚 Disease develops.
That鈥檚 according to the 天美传媒鈥檚 expert Dr Bushra Ahmed, who will host a public seminar next week.
Last year Dr Ahmed, Principal Lecturer in Biochemistry, lead cutting-edge research that lead to scientists being 鈥渙ne step closer鈥 to curing Parkinson鈥檚 鈥 a disorder which causes uncontrollable shaking, slowness of movement and poor cognitive development.
Her team at Bedfordshire鈥檚 Department of Life Sciences discovered a way to identify elements inside just one single brain cell are responsible for the development of the disease.
They identified that Parkinson鈥檚 sufferers鈥 brain cells (neurons) are dying because the neurons in the brain鈥檚 movement-control region cannot detoxify the harmful substances produced during metabolic reactions in a diseased state.
On Wednesday 21 May a seminar 鈥 entitled 鈥楧eveloping a Human Cell Model of Parkinson鈥檚 Disease鈥 鈥 which is open to the public, will demonstrate the progression of the research done at Bedfordshire since the release of that research.
The team believe it is currently closer than ever before to understanding the specific problem in human brain cells which causes the disease to develop, but further work is still required.
And neuroscientist Dr Ahmed said: 鈥淧arkinson鈥檚 Disease is due to the loss of dopamine <a chemical messenger/ the 鈥榟appy hormone鈥> containing neurons.
鈥淟ow levels of dopamine production, and a deficiency of dopamine in the region of the brain which controls movement and balance, leads to Parkinson鈥檚.鈥
She added: 鈥淗owever, one of the weaknesses of the existing approaches in Parkinson鈥檚 Disease research is the lack of a relevant human model. Although Parkinson鈥檚 is a disease only found in humans, the lack of relevant human models has led the scientific community to use animal models and different cell models which unfortunately have some limitations.
鈥淭herefore, there is an urgent need to create a human-related model and find the mechanism of the development of Parkinson鈥檚 Disease in a single dopamine-containing neuron, which will be essential to reveal the mechanism(s) of cell death.鈥
To attend the free seminar, which runs from 3pm until 4pm, book your free ticket at
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