Conor Fearon, BE, MB BCh BAO, MRCPI, PhD
Anne Weissbach, MD
The Edmond J. Safra Movement Disorders Research Career Development Awards
2022 Awardees
Conor Fearon, BE, MB BCh BAO, MRCPI, PhD
Class of 2022
Dublin Neurological Institute Dublin, Ireland
Conor Fearon sought to use quantitative assessment of eye movement as a simple, sensitive, non-invasive biomarker for Parkinson’ s disease and other atypical parkinsonian disorders. Using automatic eye movement and pupil data collected while freely viewing video clips, Dr. Fearon has identified significant differences in rapid eye movements between people with progressive supranuclear palsy( PSP) and Parkinson’ s disease. In addition to smaller, slower saccades, people with different parkinsonian conditions experience differing pupil constriction in response to video clips. Through this research, Dr. Fearon also identified two potentially novel eye movement biomarkers that carry important diagnostic and prognostic information.
Anne Weissbach, MD
Class of 2020
The Institute of Neurogenetics in Lübeck Lübeck, Germany
Through her research, Anne Weissbach found that patients with Parkinson-dystonia syndrome due to Parkin and PINK1 gene mutation demonstrated significantly less sensorimotor inhibition compared with patients with other gene mutations. Among symptomatic mutation carriers who already showed motor symptoms, sensorimotor integration was correlated with dystonic features. Dr. Weissbach, now a professor at the University of Lübeck, credits this research award and her work on this project with helping her achieve this new role.
22 The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders