Basic Science and Translational Research

The research in the Movement Disorders Division is led by Dr. Vikram (Vik) Khurana, the Chief of the Division. Dr. Khurana also leads the Precision Neurology Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Current research efforts have a unified goal: to develop treatments for patients with degenerative movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, atypical Parkinsonian syndromes such as Multiple System Atrophy and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, and Cerebellar Ataxias.

Benefitting from expertise in biological profiling, biospecimen banking and stem-cell biology, we seek to develop approaches to establish precise treatment options tailored to specific patients.

Laboratory research in the Division occurs in the setting of Laboratories and a number of Translational and Basic Science Initiatives that bring us together with multiple partnering laboratories at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School and beyond:

We collaborate with academic laboratories within the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases focused on Parkinson’s disease and related disorders, and also with industry. These collaborations help move our vision forward toward executing clinical trials in stratified, well-defined patient population.

A centerpiece of our research efforts includes the Harvard Biomarker Study that is currently enrolling patients with neurodegenerative disorders and healthy controls.

Dr. Michael D. Fox in the Division leads the cross-department Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics that develops new treatments for patients with brain disease by directly targeting brain networks responsible for neurological and psychiatric symptoms.

Translational and Basic Science Initiatives - collaborative efforts centered specifically on Movement Disorders

InitiativesLead InvestigatorsCo-Investigator
MyTrial Personalized Medicine for Degenerative Movement Disorders Dr. Vikram KhuranaDr. Barbara Changizi, Dr. Saranna Fanning
Barbara Bloom Ranson Program in MSA ResearchDr. Vikram Khurana
Brigham Research Institute Transformative GrantDr. Vikram Khurana
BWH Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson’s DiseaseDr. Jie Shen
Functional Neurosurgery and Gene TherapyDr. Michael HayesDr. Rees Cosgrove
Department of Defense: Gene-Environment Interactions in Parkinson’s DiseaseDr. Joanna Korecka, Dr. Richard KrolewskiDr. Laurie Cox, Dr. Howard Weiner, Dr. Vikram Khurana
Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s Initiative (1)Dr. Vikram Khurana
Ken Griffin/ Michael J. Fox Foundation Alpha-Synuclein Imaging MGH/BWH CollaborationDr. Changning WangDr. Stephen Gomperts, Dr. Vikram Khurana
Gene regulation and Parkinson’s disease – NIH R01 Dr. Erinc HallacliDr. Vikram Khurana
Alpha-synuclein aggregation biology (NIH R01s x 2)Dr. Ulf DettmerDr. Vikram Khurana
APDA Center for Advanced Research Dr. Vikram KhuranaDr. Daniel El-Kodsi
Palmitoylation and alpha-synuclein biology in Parkinson disease Dr. Gary Ho
Deciphering Neuronal Control of Behavioral Initiation and Suppression- NIH DP5Dr. Emily Ferenczi
Toward personalized circuit therapy in OCD (Foundation Grant, R01)Dr. Andreas HornDr. Mike Fox, Dr. Darin Dougherty, Dr. Rees Cosgrove
Using causal sources of information to map an epilepsy circuit (R01)Dr. Mike Fox
Using brain connectivity to identify causal neuroanatomical substrate of depression symptoms (R01)Dr. Mike Fox
Testing utility of an ultra-high resolution connectome for deep brain stimulation mapping (UM1)Dr. Anastasía Yendiki

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