NEWYORK, NY — The Michael J. Fox Foundation awarded a total of just over $1 million to four research teams working to develop and validate Web-based clinical assessments that could be used to improve routine clinical care, as well as clinical trials of new interventions, for Parkinson’s disease.

The funding was awarded under the Foundation’s Developing and Validating Web-Based Clinical Assessments for Parkinson’s Disease program, part of MJFF’s ongoing efforts to develop research tools that can speed the availability of life-transforming treatments for Parkinson’s disease. The initiative seeks to drive the creation and testing of Web-based tools that would allow any patient with a personal computer and an Internet connection to participate in clinical research from the comfort of their own home, decreasing hurdles to participation in critically needed clinical studies.

The funded projects are listed below. Full information, including grant abstracts and researcher bios, is available on the Foundation’s Web site — www.michaeljfox.org.

Online Motor and Cognitive Analysis System
Jay L. Alberts, PhD, Cleveland Clinic

A Web-based Assessment of Visual and Spatial Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease
Melissa Amick, PhD, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert School of Medicine, Brown University; Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island

Wearable Sensors and a Web-Based Application to Monitor Patients with Parkinson’s Disease in the Home Environment
Paolo Bonato, PhD, Harvard Medical School; Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

Developing and Validating Spanish Language Web-based Clinical Assessments for Parkinson’s Disease
Esther Cubo MD, PhD, Hospital General Yagüe, Burgos, Spain