A major UK research project was launched yesterday aimed at improving early diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers want to find biological tests that can be used to identify people developing the condition and enable them to get early treatment.
Some £1.6 million is being invested by Parkinson’s UK.
It announced the project at the start of Parkinson’s Awareness Week.
It has called for 3,000 volunteers including people recently diagnosed with the disease, patients under the age of 50 and their siblings.
Dr Donald Grosset, who is leading the project at Glasgow University, said: "The cure for Parkinson’s is a global challenge and all the samples gathered from our thousands of volunteers will be available for analysis by researchers the world over. This, in itself, will speed up our ultimate goal – to develop a cure for Parkinson’s."
Dr Kieran Breen, of Parkinsons’s UK, said: "Finding a cure for Parkinson’s is like building a gigantic jigsaw, but we still have a number of the pieces missing. This vital new study will help us fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge.
"We hope ‘Tracking Parkinson’s’ will also help us to identify people who have a greater ‘risk’ of developing Parkinson’s and we can monitor them more accurately."
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