The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) announces 108 grants totaling $62.4 million awarded in October and November 2025.
These grants support the development of tools to detect and measure changes in Parkinson’s disease (PD), novel therapies to treat it and more. Find more on MJFF Funded Studies here.
Research to Build Better Treatment Pipelines
The Foundation funds research that improves understanding of how the disease develops, making targets clearer, drug development much more refined and de-risking more strategic. That de-risking encourages pharmaceutical companies to invest in next-generation treatments that will surpass what has been available before and helps ensure that better treatments reach people with PD faster.
Two core initiatives supporting PD therapeutic development are MJFF’s new Targets to Therapies Program and ongoing Therapeutics Pipeline Program. Through these programs, MJFF provides critically needed support to PD therapeutic development.
Supporting Novel Targets for Treating PD
Targets to Therapies is a major new initiative focused on determining and validating whether specific proteins or genes within biological mechanisms involved in Parkinson’s disease could serve as effective targets for disease-modifying drugs. Disease-modifying therapies target the biology that causes Parkinson’s to halt or slow the disease process itself, and perhaps even prevent it from ever taking hold, and they remain the greatest unmet need for people with PD.
Targets that have therapies already in clinical trials include alpha-synuclein, GBA1 and LRRK2. Many more targets impact PD and potentially could function as valuable therapeutic targets.
In consultation with research experts in the global PD scientific community, Targets to Therapies selects a subset of targets for additional research. Then it funds that research in hopes that it will yield information that supports advancing the targets in clinical testing.
Funding recently went to groups who are part of “target teams” focused on expanding investigation of two of these targets:
- TRPML1: TRPML1 is a protein that forms channels on cell membranes and, when activated, may improve dysfunctional lysosomal recycling and help clear toxic alpha-synuclein clumps from the brain before they endanger dopamine neurons.
- NOD2: NOD2 is a gene that acts as a sensor detecting bacteria and triggering inflammation in the brain and gut. The researchers aim to learn how abnormal NOD2 activity, or having a genetic change in the NOD2 gene, influences disease progression in PD and whether a therapy that reduces this NOD2 activity could protect dopamine neurons.
The two targets are among five promising but understudied therapeutic targets in the first round of funding from Targets to Therapies. The three other targets are: TMEM175, a gene that when faulty can disrupt the cell’s waste disposal systems and lead to buildup of toxic substances in neurons, ATP13A2, a gene that, when it carries a mutation, is a rare cause of early-onset Parkinson’s disease, and OGA, a protein that, when inhibited, may prevent alpha-synuclein and the degeneration of dopamine neurons, a key contributor to PD’s symptoms.
Advancing Testing on Promising Therapies in Development
MJFF provides funding and other resources to biotech and pharmaceutical companies to advance projects that show promise but still need additional studies to demonstrate viability. The funding helps ensure continued testing on experimental therapies with demonstrated potential for making a difference in the lives of people with PD. This approach builds evidence for therapeutic impact and keeps the PD drug discovery pipeline thriving.
MJFF’s Therapeutics Pipeline Program recently awarded funding to a wide range of therapies being tested. Several grants went to groups developing disease-modifying therapies targeting mechanisms linked to the development of PD to slow or stop the progression of the disease.
- These included a drug to help cells to replace damaged mitochondria with healthy ones and a drug to improve lysosomal function and reduce toxic alpha-synuclein buildup. These drugs are based on evidence that problems with mitochondria, the powerhouses of cells, and lysosomes, the recycling centers of cells, disrupt waste clearance, leading to a buildup of alpha-synuclein that is toxic to dopamine neurons.
- Funding is also helping to expand and diversify approaches for addressing genetic mutations linked to PD. Grants were recently awarded to advance testing on a drug to reduce LRRK2 protein hyperactivity related to mutations in the LRRK2 gene and a drug to improve cellular cleanup functions disrupted by GBA1 mutations.
MJFF also funds projects to improve PD’s motor- and nonmotor-related symptoms, especially among people with advancing disease.
- One recent grant went to further the development of a drug to improve the thinking abilities that underlie apathy, a common PD symptom that causes a loss of motivation and initiative and reduces quality of life.
- Another went to optimize and collect real-world data on a hip-powered robotic device to improve balance and walking for people with PD.
Biomarker Tools to Make Clinical Trials Faster
Biomarker tools are crucial for PD to enable earlier, more accurate diagnosis, track disease progression objectively, monitor treatment effectiveness and accelerate drug development by providing measurable indicators of the disease process. In 2023, MJFF-supported research led to the discovery of a biomarker tool using spinal fluid to detect misfolded alpha-synuclein protein for the first time in living people. The biomarker tool objectively detects this hallmark sign of PD even years before outward symptoms, and it is being used to make clinical trials faster and pave the way for treatment advances.
Ongoing research efforts now focus on detecting and measuring alpha-synuclein and other biological signs linked to Parkinson’s in a range of biofluids. MJFF recently awarded funding to biomarker tools aiming to detect early signs of PD in blood and urine. Another project aims to characterize PD’s distinct biochemical “fingerprint” that occurs in sebum (the oily substance produced by the skin), which also could be an early sign of PD.
Imaging biomarkers also are a priority area for MJFF. That’s because tools able to visualize PD-related alpha-synuclein in the living brain would transform Parkinson’s research and care by supporting earlier diagnosis, monitoring changes in the brain over time and assessing the effects of treatment.
Several projects recently received funding to advance promising imaging biomarkers. These included:
- A next-generation MRI tool aiming to detect and measure signs of PD in the brain, holding potential for improving disease detection and providing sensitive therapeutic biomarkers to monitor treatment effects and guide disease management.
- A technology-driven effort to identify PET “tracers” — tiny amounts of safe, radioactive molecules that bind to target proteins and show them in the brain — that bind tightly enough to PD’s misfolded alpha-synuclein and also do not stick to the wrong brain proteins. Finding this “just-right” alpha-synuclein tracer has been an ongoing barrier to imaging PD.
- Two studies investigating the use of the NeuroEXPLORER PET camera, which provides more sensitive, higher resolution imaging compared to standard PET cameras for clearer detection and measurement of PD pathology in the brain, including clumps of alpha-synuclein and dopamine cell loss.
A Robust Portfolio
These projects demonstrate a broad approach to PD research at MJFF, and make up a portion of funded research, which extends from individually selected projects to large studies and initiatives, such as the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative and Path to Prevention platform trial.
To learn more about active funding mechanisms at MJFF, visit our Funding Opportunities page.