Meet the Researcher Working to Develop an Imaging Biomarker for Parkinson’s

Tracking Parkinson’s disease (PD) progression is challenging, and doctors currently rely on how a person’s symptoms change over time. This method is difficult because symptoms vary from person to person and can fluctuate, making it hard to evaluate if treatments are helping.

For other brain diseases like Alzheimer’s, scientists have developed small molecules that can attach to disease-related protein clumps and make them visible on brain scans such as PET (positron emission tomography). These imaging tools allow researchers and clinicians to see where harmful proteins are building up in the brain, providing a clearer way to track disease progression and test therapies. In short, these imaging tools can act as a biomarker for the disease.

Sarah Shahmoradian, PhD, recipient of a Parkinson’s Foundation Impact Award, is exploring whether a similar biomarker tag could work for Parkinson’s. Working with collaborators at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Parkinson’s Foundation Center of Excellence, Dr. Shahmoradian is studying a specially designed small molecule that appears to bind to toxic forms of the protein connected to Parkinson’s (called alpha-synuclein). 

“Currently, we do not have a PET tracer that reliably marks clusters of the protein alpha-synuclein when it goes bad, so we can’t tell when these clusters are starting to grow or when they are starting to spread in the brain,” said Dr. Shahmoradian.

Having a Parkinson’s-specific PET tracer to track the alpha-synuclein protein would help PD doctors and care teams:

• Detect Parkinson’s earlier

• Monitor how PD spreads over time

• Evaluate if experimental therapeutics are reducing the clustering and accumulation over time

• Distinguish Parkinson’s from other conditions with overlapping symptoms

From her lab at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Dr. Shahmoradian will use high-resolution imaging methods — developed through her earlier research, which was supported by a Parkinson’s Foundation Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty Award in 2022 — to see precisely how this new molecule attaches to alpha-synuclein. Understanding this interaction at the molecular level will help scientists fine-tune the tracer for future clinical imaging.

The next step is to adapt the molecule so it glows under the microscope. By applying it to neurons grown in the lab that model Parkinson’s disease, or to slices of PD brain tissue, Dr. Shahmoradian and her team hope to track where alpha-synuclein clumps appear and how they move inside cells.

If successful, this work will demonstrate that the molecule can serve as a powerful diagnostic and research tool for Parkinson’s.

“There is real momentum in Parkinson’s disease research right now. We understand more about the problematic protein alpha-synuclein now than we did a decade ago. Cell models are becoming increasingly sophisticated and there are newer imaging agents and disease-modifying therapies on the horizon.” - Dr. Shahmoradian

Dr. Shahmoradian believes her work brings hope to the Parkinson’s community because through it, researchers like herself can look at problematic alpha-synuclein clumps at extremely high resolution to figure out exactly where the protein goes wrong.

She is grateful for the community she has found through the Parkinson’s Foundation, and the connections she has made with other researchers who are also focused on finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease.

“This research would not be possible without the Foundation’s support, and the donors who made these grants a reality. Your investment is not abstract. You are helping support experiments right now, in real time, that help diagnose and treat Parkinson’s disease. You are accelerating and empowering scientists like myself toward the shared common cause of curing Parkinson’s disease,” said Dr. Shahmoradian.

Meet more Parkinson’s researchers! Explore our My PD Stories featuring PD researchers.