My PD Story

2026 Environmental Trigger Award

Investigating How Chemical Exposure Contributes to Parkinson’s with “Organelle Health Reports”

Environmental exposures are a critical risk factor for developing Parkinson’s disease (PD). Through large population studies, more than 70 chemicals have been linked to PD risk, including certain pesticides, pollutants and industrial solvents. Exposures to these chemicals are believed to contribute to the progressive loss of dopamine neurons in the brain.

While we know exposure to these chemicals can increase the risk of developing PD, we are still not sure exactly how different exposures damage neurons—different toxins likely harm cells in unique ways. Brent Ryan, PhD, recipient of a Parkinson’s Foundation Environmental Trigger Award, will screen and assess the health of two key parts of neurons — mitochondria and lysosomes — after exposure to PD-related chemicals to understand the biological changes that lead to PD.

“This research will help explain why some chemicals pose a greater risk than others and how environmental exposures contribute to Parkinson's disease.” – Dr. Ryan

Mitochondria and lysosomes are known as organelles, tiny structures within cells that provide important functions. 

• Mitochondria are the power plants of cells, turning  nutrients into cellular energy. 
• Lysosomes are the recycling centers, processing cellular junk into raw materials for building new cellular machinery. 
• Both are often impaired in PD and problems with these systems may contribute to the damage experienced by dopamine-producing brain cells. 

With his team in the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Center at the University of Oxford in England, Dr. Ryan developed a new technology called “organelle painting,” which will help explain how PD-linked chemical exposures damage mitochondria and lysosomes.. These tools allow his team to interpret multiple aspects of cellular health at once, generating a thorough health report for these organelles that provides a more complete picture of how mitochondria and lysosomes respond to different chemical exposures. 

Dr. Ryan will take human dopamine-producing neurons grown in the laboratory, expose them to the various PD-linked chemicals, and generate health reports to see exactly how the chemicals affected the mitochondria and lysosomes. He will also test how different combinations of chemical lead to even greater impairments, simulating potential real-world scenarios. By understanding the precise ways in which certain chemicals damage cells, researchers can generate more specific treatments to improve PD outcomes. All these results will be used to build a PD Toxicant-Organelle Interaction Atlas, a publicly accessible database that other researchers can use to guide their own PD research. Dr. Ryan hopes that having such important data and methods available for everyone will accelerate the scientific community toward new breakthroughs, treatments and a cure.

“Receiving this award is a tremendous honor, and we are grateful for the opportunity to use the technologies we have developed to better understand how environmental exposures may contribute to Parkinson's disease,” said Dr. Ryan. “We hope this will not only improve our understanding of environmental causes of Parkinson's disease but also open up new ways to study risk, discover treatments and ultimately improve the lives of people living with Parkinson's.”

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