Waltham, Mass. — Thermo Fisher Scientific has completed proteomic analysis of about 5,500 research samples from The Michael J. Fox Foundation’s Parkinson’s Precision Medicine Initiative, creating a large-scale dataset aimed at advancing Parkinson’s disease research and precision medicine.
The analysis was conducted using Thermo Fisher’s Olink Explore HT platform. The resulting data are now available to researchers through the initiative’s open-access data repository.
The project is designed to help scientists study Parkinson’s disease at the protein level and investigate biological signals associated with disease progression, differences among patients and potential biomarkers.
Thermo Fisher said combining proteomic data with PPMI’s longitudinal clinical, genetic, imaging and other molecular information could help researchers better understand Parkinson’s biology and identify patient subtypes and potential therapeutic targets.
Olink, part of Thermo Fisher, uses Proximity Extension Assay technology for high-throughput protein analysis. The platform supports biomarker research ranging from early discovery to translational studies and large-scale proteogenomics.
The Parkinson’s Precision Medicine Initiative, sponsored by The Michael J. Fox Foundation, was launched in 2010. The initiative was recently renamed from the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative to reflect a growing emphasis on defining Parkinson’s according to its underlying biology rather than clinical symptoms alone.
“Parkinson’s disease is incredibly complex and understanding the biological changes that drive its onset and progression requires looking across many layers of biology,” said Samantha Hutten, Ph.D., Principal Biomarker Scientist, Translational Research at The Michael J. Fox Foundation.
“This is what the Foundation’s global PPMI study was built to do. By expanding proteomic analyses within the study, including through partners like Olink, we’re creating new opportunities to identify biomarkers and uncover pathways that may lead to earlier diagnosis, better disease monitoring and more targeted therapeutic approaches for people living with Parkinson’s disease,” Hutten said.
Proteomic analysis can help researchers examine biological pathways associated with inflammation, lysosomal function and neuronal stress while identifying potential biomarkers for further validation.
“Discovery is only the beginning in Parkinson’s research,” said Yan Zhang, President of Proteomic Sciences at Thermo Fisher. “The next challenge is determining which molecular signals are reproducible, clinically meaningful and useful for advancing Parkinson’s precision medicine. Making these data available to the research community helps put that validation work into motion.”
