World Parkinson Congress: Day Three

Today, the final day of the World Parkinson Congress continued to provide more fascinating workshops and speakers to report on. Amongst today’s highlights:

This morning Parkinson’s UK funded researcher, Roger Barker spoke about gene and cell-based therapies for Parkinson’s patients. He discussed the need to study design challenges and new possibilities, and spoke of his his current transplant trial.

Fellow Parkinson’s UK funded researcher Lyn Rochester also delivered an interesting speech on the benefits of physical therapy for people with Parkinson’s. There was a lot of discussion on the need for longer and larger studies into the benefits of physiotherapy.

Later on, Kieran Breen, our Director of Research and Development chaired a session on gene and cellular therapy. He suggested that tissue transplants may help us design stem cell clinical trials in the future.

We hope that everyone involved, both in Glasgow and those following via this blog and Twitter, has enjoyed the week and learnt something new about Parkinson’s. There’s been a real sense of coming together of people from across the globe, united in our efforts to learn more about Parkinson’s and move towards a cure for the condition.

Our Chief Executive, Steve Ford, sums up:

“Our objectives were to ensure that lots of people affected by Parkinson’s attended and shaped the congress and that Parkinson's UK had a high profile. We succeeded in both.

“It’s great to have developed our international relationships – this week, Parkinson’s UK established itself at the heart of the global Parkinson’s movement.

“Now we’ve reached the end of the week, we’re all feeling a little bit exhausted. But we’re really keen to capture everyone’s thoughts and observations so that we can ensure that this year’s WPC has an ongoing legacy. Whether you attended up here in Glasgow or not, we’d love to hear from you.”