Page 47 - NZBRI_Annual Report 2017_FA

Annual Report 2017 45

Research Reports

Excellent progress was made during 2017,

most especially the continuation of data

collection for the Parkinson’s disease

progression study, student postgraduate

completions and grant successes.

ur progression study is becoming an extremely valuable source
Oof varied and complex longitudinal datasets on Parkinson’s

disease patients; it continues to cement our place within the
international consortium on cognitive changes in Parkinson’s, for
which Dr Daniel Myall is now taking a leading role in setting up an

international resource.
The longitudinal study also includes work towards completion of

our current Health Research Council (HRC) project (Genetics, brain
imaging and cognitive decline in Parkinson’s disease; Co-PIs Tim
Anderson and John Dalrymple-Alford).

Of several new grant applications, perhaps the most significant
is our latest HRC project application, Plasma a-synuclein as a
biomarker of cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease (Co-PIs Tim

Anderson and John Dalrymple-Alford); we await the final outcome
of this application in May /June. Related projects also await an
outcome (MJ Fox Foundation, submitted in Jan 2018), but we have

already had success with Lottery Health.
In other work, we are nearing the completion of our “cognitive

and physical exercise” intervention study in patients with
Parkinson’s; we await some follow up data to assess the impact of
this intervention.

Of particular note is a new development to examine
electroencephalography (EEG) as a biomarker for cognition in

Parkinson’s disease and its extension to Alzheimer’s disease. In
that regards, we achieved grant success from Brain Research New
Zealand, which includes two-years part-time funding for Reza