Parkinson's and Movement
Disorders Center

$50,000
Principal Investigator: Eyuphan Bulut, PhD (VCU Department of Computer Science)
Co-Investigator: Brian D. Berman, MD, MS (PMDC, VCU Department of Neurology)

This pilot study is aimed at developing and testing a non-invasive, low-cost, and privacy-preserving system for monitoring Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients at home using Wi-Fi sensing technology. The system intends to track PD-related symptoms, such as tremors and motor fluctuations, by analyzing the Channel State Information (CSI) from Wi-Fi signals. The project aims to improve the monitoring of PD patients, provide better insights into the effectiveness of medications, and ultimately enhance patient outcomes.

This project is funded by a generous contribution from the Joan & Morgan Massey Foundation.

$49,539

Principal Investigator: Dean Krusienski, PhD (Department of Biomedical Engineering)

Co-Investigators:

Gang Zhou, PhD (WM Computer Science Department)

Huajie Shao, PhD (WM Computer Science Department)

Kathryn Holloway, MD (VCUHS, SE PADRECC)

Leslie Cloud, MD, MSc (PMDC, VCU Department of Neurology)

Ingrid Pretzer-Aboff, PhD, RN (PMDC, VCU School of Nursing)

Harsh Shah, MD (VCUHS)

This grant proposal addresses the challenge of reliably detecting freezing-of-gait (FoG) in Parkinson’s Disease patients, a debilitating symptom with limited treatment options. The proposal aims to examine local field potentials data from the GPi to predict FoG episodes via a transformer model. This addresses the problem of either inaccurate and/or time-consuming detection of FoG episodes. It also would allow real-time detection of FoG so that an immediate treatment could be delivered, e.g., customized DBS stimulation.

$45,000

Principal Investigator: Rohil Hameed, PhD (VCU Department of Biology)

Mentor: Alaattin Kaya, PhD (VCU Department of Biology and Human & Molecular Genetics, UVA Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics)

Essential genes have crucial roles in maintaining cellular homeostasis and function so mutations could impact neuronal health and neurodegenerative disease progression. Dr. Hameed proposes to screen functionally conserved essential genes that may influence onset and progression of PD. He will use a C. elegans model and CRISPR activation to induce subtle gene expression by ingestion. They have already created a model of CRISPRa of PD in C. elegans and found in a pilot analysis that overexpression of certain essential genes can modulate the levels of human a-synuclein. They state they have also established a model of PD through a toxin-induced loss of dopaminergic neurons and so can observe in real-time knock out or overexpression of target essential genes on their health. With the PMDC pilot grant, they aim to design and generate a bacterial library with essential gene specific sgRNAs for gene induction through feeding, and to study the effects of essential gene over-expression on PD model endpoints. This could help create a novel method that uses injection mediated genetics to explore genetic factors in PD. Dr. Hameed states this would represent the first systematic investigation of the effects of essential genes on a-synuclein levels on neurodegeneration in a humanized C. elegans model.

$50,000

Principal Investigator: Santiago Lima, PhD (VCU Department of Biology, Massey Cancer Center)

Co-Investigator: Jason Newton, PhD (VCU Department of Biology)

This project builds on the investigators' 2023 PMDC Pilot Grant-funded project that helped them develop a GBA knockout cell model with increased α-synuclein accumulation. They aim to now explore how GBA activity defects and associated glycosphingolipid alterations influence Trk receptor activity and impact cell survival. Specifically, this project seeks to 1) determine the glycosphingolipids that influence Trk levels and signaling and 2) establish a colony of GBA/SNCA transgenic mice to investigate role of GBA in neurodegeneration through regulation of Trk receptors and α-synuclein accumulation. Establishing a link between GBA-related mechanisms and the altered kinase signaling pathway contribution to PD pathogenesis would provide greater insight into pathogenesis of PD and perhaps lead to identification of potential novel therapeutic targets.

$50,000

Principal Investigator: Changqing Luo, PhD (VCU Department of Computer Science)

This project aims to explore and design unnoticeable over-the-air physical attacks on Wi-Fi sensing systems used for monitoring Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. The research focuses on understanding the vulnerabilities in machine learning (ML) models used in these systems and devising attack strategies to disrupt the accurate monitoring of PD patient movements. The proposal addresses a critical gap in the security of Wi-Fi sensing systems by investigating physical adversarial attacks, which can compromise the effectiveness of these systems in monitoring PD patients.

$49,999
Natalie Dautovich, PhD (Psychology)
Sarah Lageman, LCP, PhD (Neurology)

SLEEP-PD: Group-based intervention for Insomnia in Parkinson’s Disease

$50,000
Laxmikant Deshpande, PhD (Neurology)
Joseph McClay, PhD (Pharmacotherapy & Outcomes Science)

Epigenetic mechanisms for chronic memory impairment following repeated exposure to organophosphate pesticide chlorpyrifos in rats

$50,000
Santiago Lima, PhD (Biology)
Jason Newton, PhD (Biology)

Examination of a GBA-RTK-α-synuclein axis in cellular models of Parkinson’s disease.

$50,000
Leslie J. Cloud, M.D., Associate Professor,
Department of Neurology; Director, Parkinson’s
Disease Program

High intensity exercise has known benefits for older adults, but it’s difficult for people with Parkinson’s disease to get that
kind of a workout. Blood flow restriction training may provide a solution by using low intensity exercise and pressurized
cuffs to produce muscle strengthening results similar to high intensity training. Blood flow restriction training hasn’t been
rigorously examined in people with Parkinson’s disease, and this study will develop protocols, train staff, and generate preliminary data on using that exercise approach.

$50,000
Kirsty Dixon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor,
Department of Surgery

Dixon will look at how traumatic brain injury and neuroinflammation affect brain signaling pathways and  exacerbate neurodegeneration that can lead to disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Data collected will support a larger grant application for research into lowering the risk that traumatic brain injury leads to neurodegenerative diseases.

$50,000
Ingrid Pretzer-Aboff, Ph.D., R.N., Associate Professor, Department of Adult Health and Nursing Systems
Co-investigators: Leslie Cloud, M.D., Department of Neurology; Kathryn Holloway, M.D., Department of Neurosurgery; Gang Zhou, Ph.D., Department of Computer Science, William & Mary; Dean J. Krusienski, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering

There is no effective treatment for freezing of gait (FoG), a devastating symptom affecting 60% of Parkinson’s disease
patients. Researchers will analyze brain cell electrical signals recorded by deep brain stimulation electrodes in people
experiencing FoG to determine if there is a detectable change in the brain’s electrical activity with the onset and resolution
of a freeze. This study aims to advance development of novel treatments for FoG.

$50,000
Josephine Wallner, M.D.-Ph.D. student, Department of Biomedical Engineering
Co-investigator: Kathryn Holloway, M.D., Department of Neurosurgery
Mentor: Dean Krusienski, Ph.D., Department of Biomedical Engineering

Deep brain stimulation can greatly benefit people with essential tremor, but some people undergoing DBS don’t see
many benefits or they experience adverse effects. Researchers will examine the relationship between local field potentials
and tremor severity to find ways to improve tremor treatment effectiveness while reducing any adverse impacts.

$50,000
Laxmikant Deshpande, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Neurology
Co-investigator Joseph McClay, Ph.D., Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science

Deshpande is leading a project exploring potential links between Parkinson’s disease and prolonged exposure to
certain pesticides. “Scientists have only recently begun to address environmental pesticide exposures and their
interactions with genetic factors for Parkinson’s risk,” he says. To explore the impact of pesticide exposures, researchers have
used the pilot grant to create an experimental model that injects a neurotoxin used in pesticides into rats to induce Parkinson’s-like motor symptoms. The animals exposed to the toxin showed progressively worse muscle rigidity and balance problems, the researcher said.

The VCU team detailed those findings at a VCU Medical Science Internship Program symposium. Investigators are now studying the brains of these rats as part of their study.

“This rat model would allow basic research into the mechanisms of Parkinson’s disease and provide a drug screening tool for finding effective therapies for the disease,” Deshpande says.

The research is continuing with the help of competitive funding from the Virginia Institute of Aging that the team was awarded based on their research conducted through this 2021 PMDC grant.

$50,000
Megan Rajagopal, M.D., Resident, Department of Neurosurgery
Co-investigators: Dong Sun, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology; Laxmikant Deshpande, Ph.D., Department of Neurology; Deepak Kumbhare, Ph.D., Department of Neurosurgery
Mentor: Kathryn Holloway, M.D., Department of Neurosurgery

One project funded by the PMDC is expanding on research into the impact that deep brain stimulation (DBS) has on dementia.

A number of studies have examined the brain stimulation technique, including a 2017 paper that found the method was beneficial for two primates even after stimulation ended, the VCU researchers said in a synopsis of their work.

The VCU study looked at the long-term impact of DBS for 6 weeks after that method was performed on the rats using an
electrode implanted in their brain. The VCU study focused on rats divided into three groups: healthy rats, rats with dementia
that didn’t undergo DBS, and rats with dementia that underwent deep brain stimulation for two weeks. The rats’ capacity to learn was then tested by tracking their responses to audio cues. The team found the rats with dementia that underwent DBS
showed a learning improvement that greatly exceeded that seen in rats with dementia that didn’t go through the procedure.
Even after the stimulation, the rats with dementia that underwent the procedure returned to a learning improvement
rate that matched healthy rats and a learning rate greater than the rats that didn’t undergo DBS.

Researchers submitted an abstract summarizing their results to the American Association of Neurosurgeons for a meeting
coming up in April, says Megan Rajagopal, M.D., the lead investigator who has been working in the lab full-time on the project. “We have completed all the implantations and behavioral testing, and we are now proceeding with histological analysis.”

$49,704
Originally awarded to Alexander Stamenkovic,Ph.D., formerly with Department of Physical Therapy
Led by James Thomas, Ph.D., Department of Physical Therapy, and Leslie Cloud, M.D., Department of Neurology
Co-investigator: Peter Pidcoe, D.P.T., Ph.D., Department of Physical Therapy

For people with Parkinson’s disease, poor control over their torso and a lack of balance can signal the onset of worsening
symptoms of the disease, according to a team of VCU researchers that’s developed a way to measure just how rigid a patient’s torso has become.

With the support of their 2021 PMDC pilot grant, the team created a prototype device that quickly shifts a patient’s body
while measuring their torso stiffness. Patients are partially seated in a harness in the device as cables pull their body
forward very briefly, explains James Thomas, Ph.D, who runs the VCU Motor Control Lab.

“It moves you two inches in a 10th of a second,” says Thomas, a VCU physical therapy professor. “It pulls you very quickly, and then it releases you.”

The device could give clues on how far the disease has progressed in a patient while also providing a way to gauge how
the person’s body responds to Parkinson’s treatments. Thomas is overseeing the project after the lead investigator,
Alexander Stamenkovic, Ph.D., took a job at Meta. Thomas says the research is being done in connection with other work
VCU researchers have pursued that uses virtual reality to create immersive experiences to improve trunk control in Parkinson’s disease patients.

Thomas says COVID-19 surge from the Omicron variant disrupted the testing of the new pulling device. But he said work is continuing again, and several patients have been taking part in trials on the device.

“We will continue to recruit and enroll participants in this study. We are also developing a collaborative grant application on trunk compliance in PD with colleagues at University of Minnesota based on these data,” Thomas says.