The ASAP Collaborative Research Network (CRN), which launched in 2020, is the first of its kind to foster an environment that facilitates the rapid and free exchange of scientific ideas to spark new discoveries for Parkinson’s disease (PD).
The CRN utilizes open science principles to accelerate discoveries and improve outcomes, foster collaborations, generate resources, and share data assets for informing the path to a cure within a global research network.
We designed the program to:
- Encourage diverse perspectives and open discourse to support high-risk, ambitious projects, reshaping how science in the Parkinson’s field is conducted.
- Reinvigorate the research pipeline to identify new targets and pathways for translational studies and commercialization.
Highlights
Since 2020, the CRN has brought together more than 160 investigators across international teams in 14 countries, organized into 35 research teams. Check out a few of the highlights resulting from this network.
Priority Research Themes
ASAP’s CRN is focused on three priority scientific themes:
- PD Functional Genomics
- Neuro-Immune Interactions
- Circuitry and Brain-Body Interactions
Investigators associated with these themes bring the breadth of their collective experience to the PD field as they come from multiple disciplines, institutions, career stages, and geographies. Together, they share ASAP’s mission to improve our understanding of PD development and progression through collaboration, resource generation, and data sharing. Teams are awarded grant funding through request for applications in partnership with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF).
PD Functional Genomics
Since the first identification of a causal genetic mutation in Parkinson’s disease (PD), genetic discoveries have expanded our understanding of PD heredity and broadened insights into spontaneous disease. These teams will focus on unraveling the biology underlying these genetic mutations.
Team Alessi
Team De Camilli
Team Hardy
Team Harper
Team Hurley
Team Kirik
Team Lee
Team Reck-Peterson
Team Rio
Team Scherzer
Team Studer
Team Vangheluwe
Team Voet
Team Wood
Neuro-Immune Interactions
Chronic neuroinflammation has long been implicated in PD; however, the underlying molecular mechanisms mediating this process remain unknown. These teams will focus on uncovering the molecular and cellular contributions of the neuro-immune system in Parkinson’s disease.
Team Chen
Team Desjardins
Team Hafler
Team Jakobsson
Team Kordower
Team Schapira
Team Sulzer
Circuitry and Brain-Body Interactions
The circuitry and brain-body interactions theme focuses on basic research aimed at understanding how the circuits that underlie key brain regions are affected in Parkinson’s disease and how they may contribute to disease initiation and progression. These teams will focus on investigating how communication between the brain and areas outside the brain are affected over the disease course.
Team Awatramani
Team Biederer
Team Calakos
Team Cragg
Team Edwards
Team Gradinaru
Team Kaplitt
Team Liddle
Team Mobley
Team Schlossmacher
Team Strick
Team Surmeier
Team Vila
Team Wichmann
