MIR Researchers Awarded $3 Million to Investigate Parkinson’s Biomarker

Researchers from WashU Medicine Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) secured a five-year, $3 million grant to investigate neuroinflammation in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Zhude (Will) Tu, PhD, professor of radiology and director of MIR’s Precision Radiotheranostics Translation Center (PRTC), and Joel S. Perlmutter, MD, the Elliot H. Stein Family Professor of Neurology, hope to identify a neuroinflammation biomarker in the brain that could help facilitate anti-inflammation therapies for PD and other neuroinflammatory diseases.

PD affects approximately 4–10 million people around the world, resulting in a roughly $14.4 billion yearly economic burden. But the lack of specific biomarkers has hindered diagnostic imaging options and targeted therapy. Through the use of positron emission tomography (PET) and a radiotracer named [11C]CS1P1 — which has received FDA approval as an investigational new drug — the researchers seek to demonstrate that this application can quantify neuroinflammation in people with PD and other neurodegenerative diseases. This would provide key information about the pathology and progression of PD, serving as a critical step towards developing effective treatments that target inflammation and a measure of their effectiveness.

Tu and Perlmutter, also a professor of radiology, helm labs in MIR’s PRTC and Neuroimaging Labs Research Center respectively, collaborating for more than 15 years. Tu’s lab focuses on the innovative design, synthesis and validation of ¹¹C- and ¹⁸F-labeled small-molecule radiotracers. He also is developing novel PET radiotracers within the PET Radiotracer Translation and Resource Center, an innovation hub housed at MIR that leads an international network of collaborators.

Perlmutter leads a research group that focuses on biomarker discovery and studies of the pathophysiology of PD, dystonia and related conditions. His research spans basic, translational and patient-oriented studies that combine PET and MR imaging with basic biochemical measures in biological samples.