The Fox Focus 2020 Fall/Winter | Page 16

14 Fox Focus | Research

HERE Is Where Breakthroughs Happen

At The Michael J . Fox Foundation ( MJFF ), we operate with the same sense of urgency and responsibility to the Parkinson ’ s community as when we were founded in 2000 . Here are some select research highlights from the history of Parkinson ’ s research and the short history of our Foundation .
1900
1817
James Parkinson ’ s publication , An Essay on the Shaking Palsy , represents the first scientific documentation of Parkinson ’ s disease ( PD ).

2000

Michael J . Fox and Co-founder Debi Brooks launch The Michael J . Fox Foundation dedicated to mobilizing the greatest amount of private resources ever amassed for Parkinson ’ s research toward a cure .
2004
Research led by an international genetics consortium implicates a new gene , LRRK2 , in PD .
2005
Two years after completion of the Human Genome Project , the MJFF-funded Edmond J . Safra Genetics Consortium publishes the most comprehensive genetic study of PD completed to date .
1967
Levodopa discovered . While considered the “ gold standard ” for treating Parkinson ’ s symptoms , critical patient unmet needs remain .
1997
Modern era of Parkinson ’ s research begins as researchers at the National Institutes of Health identify the protein alpha-synuclein as a key culprit in PD .
2001
MJFF provides funding to keep stem cell research moving forward after a team at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center successfully engineers dopamine neurons from human embryonic stem cells .
2000