16 Understanding the Biology of Parkinson ’ s
PPMI : A United Effort to Predict and Prevent Parkinson ’ s
For the past decade , thousands of patients , scientists and volunteers have contributed to MJFF ’ s landmark Parkinson ’ s Progression Markers Initiative ( PPMI ) study .
A cornerstone of our efforts to increase biological understanding of the disease and its symptoms , PPMI is a peerless endeavor to funnel insights , practical tools and data directly into today ’ s drug development environment . In turn , human studies of the disease increase our understanding of biology and open new avenues of scientific inquiry to speed nextgeneration strategies to eradicate the disease once and for all .
In 2021 , PPMI entered its next phase : enrolling people newly diagnosed with Parkinson ’ s as well
$ 102.2M invested in PPMI since 2010
as those who may be at risk for the disease . By growing the study from 1,500 to 4,000 participants , taking part at nearly 50 sites in 12 countries , and enrolling as many as 100,000 people online , we hope to gain critical information about who gets the disease , who doesn ’ t , and why .