More than a million Americans have Parkinson’s disease, and another 50,000 are diagnosed each year. There is active research to try to understand this devastating condition, but scientists still don’t really know what causes it.  There are no clear environmental triggers for the disease, and genetics doesn’t seem to play a large role either – [...]

Tags: LRRK2, Parkinson's, PIGD, tremor

New research suggests that your skills behind the wheel may be affected by your genes.
To better understand the effects of a variant in the BDNF gene on motor skills learning, Steven Cramer and colleagues at UC Irvine tested 29 subjects in a driving simulator. Their results, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, might make [...]

Tags: BDNF, driving, Huntington's, lupus, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, stroke

We’ve set out to build the world’s largest online PD genetics community, and we’re thrilled to report that more than 2,000 people have enrolled since the initiative was launched last month. Owing to tremendous support from The Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center and The Michael J. Fox Foundation, their networks of patients have responded overwhelmingly. Assembling [...]

Tags: Michael J. Fox Foundation, Parkinson's, Parkinson's community, Parkinson's Disease, The Parkinson's Institute

By 23andMe Co-Founders Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki
We started 23andMe with a simple, yet expansive, vision: to take DNA into the mainstream.  In order to demystify genetics, we thought the best approach was to give individuals access to their genomes and help them gain personalized insight into their own unique code.  This was our premise [...]

Tags: 23andWe, Anne Wojcicki, Linda Avey, Parkinson's, Parkinson's Disease, Research 2.0