Catalog

ASAP is committed to accelerating the pace of discovery and informing a path to a cure for Parkinson’s disease through collaboration, research-enabling resources, and data sharing. We’ve created this catalog to showcase the research outputs and tools developed by ASAP-funded programs.

Article

Intravenous gene transfer throughout the brain of infant Old World primates using AAV

Preprint: The authors describe a novel engineered adeno-associated virus (AAV) variant, AAV.CAP-Mac, that enables systemic, brain-wide gene delivery in infants of two Old World primate species, rhesus macaque and green monkey.

Article

Serine-129 phosphorylation of α-synuclein is an activity-dependent trigger for physiologic protein-protein interactions and synaptic function

Published: Phosphorylation of α-synuclein at the Serine-129 site (α-syn Ser129P) is an established pathologic hallmark of synucleinopathies and also a therapeutic target. Exploring AlphaFold2-driven modeling and membrane-binding simulations, the authors offer a new conceptual platform for investigating the role of Ser129 in synucleinopathies, with implications for drug development. View original preprint. View original preprint.
 

Article

Advances in AAV technology for delivering genetically encoded cargo to the nonhuman primate nervous system

Modern neuroscience approaches including optogenetics, calcium imaging, and other genetic manipulations have facilitated our ability to dissect specific circuits in rodent models to study their role in neurological disease. These approaches regularly use viral vectors to deliver genetic cargo (e.g., opsins) to specific tissues and genetically engineered rodents to achieve cell-type specificity.

Article

Synapsin E-domain is essential for α-synuclein function

Together with previous studies implicating the E-domain in clustering SVs, the authors’ experiments advocate a cooperative role for these two proteins in maintaining physiologic SV clusters. View original preprint.

Article

Peripheral neuronal activation shapes the microbiome and alters gut physiology

Published: The enteric nervous system shapes the intestinal environment and communicates with various brain organs, including the brain. The authors used recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vectors and chemogenetics to map and activate enteric neurons in mice with spatial and temporal resolution. View original preprint.

Article

Integrated multi-cohort analysis of the Parkinson’s disease gut metagenome

Preprint: Here, the fecal metagenomes of those living with PD compared to others in the household were profiled from 4 geographically-distinct sites across 3 continents. The question was whether there were any specific PD-associated signatures in gut microbiome that are either enriched or depleted in PD.