• Question: How far have you got to finding a cure for parkinsons?

    Asked by henrym to Amy, Georgia on 17 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by tabiuw, samg, thomasfilarowski.
    • Photo: Amy Reeve

      Amy Reeve answered on 10 Jun 2011:

      Hi

      Honestly……not very far.

      Parkinson’s disease was first described in the 1800s. We understand a lot more about it now but there are still really important questions that we haven’t yet been able to answer like….
      Why doesn’t everybody get Parkinson’s disease?
      Why do only those brain cells die?

      But we are getting much closer every year. The more we understand about why something goes wrong, the more likely it is that we can fix it. We will get there one day soon.

      thanks for your question 🙂

    • Photo: Georgia Campbell

      Georgia Campbell answered on 17 Jun 2011:

      Not very far, unfortunately 🙁 There’s still so much that we don’t know about Parkinson’s, which makes it really hard to find a cure. This is what my work really focusses on – if I can try and add to the scientific understanding of how Parkinson’s is caused, then that’s something we could potentially try to base a cure on.

      I think we’ll definately find a cure in the future though, and a lot of scientists are working really hard to find one!

Comments

  • Photo: catangell

    catangell commented on :

    Why are you so interested in Parkinson’s??

  • Photo: Amy

    Amy commented on :

    Parkinson’s disease affects a lot of elderly people. Being old is fairly rubbish at the moment, when you get over 65 you are at risk of so many things. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could live to old age but be healthier. I am interested in this disease because i want to help people. Also if we understand why cells die in this disease then we can apply our knowledge to lots of other diseases.