{"id":1609,"date":"2018-05-15T14:02:45","date_gmt":"2018-05-15T18:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parkinsonpost.com\/?p=1609"},"modified":"2018-05-15T14:02:45","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T18:02:45","slug":"helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping the Brain fight Parkinson\u2019s — Investigating the effect of USP8 on Parkin Function"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"thomas-durcan\"

Dr Thomas M. Durcan,
Montreal Neurological Institute<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

At the Montreal Neurological Institute, neuroscientist Thomas Durcan studies the mechanisms within the human brain that can be exploited to protect it from the impact of Parkinson\u2019s disease. This work focuses on a protein called Parkin, which removes damaged components from cells, as well as a partner enzyme that appears to guide this protein\u2019s activities. He suggests that this enzyme could be a worthwhile target for new drugs or other therapies that could enhance Parkin\u2019s ability to protect against the effects of Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n

An ideal treatment for Parkinson\u2019s disease would be identifying a protein that could be exploited to promote the survival of the brain cells that die as Parkinson\u2019s progresses. Durcan is sorting through the biochemical details of how that might be possible.<\/p>\n

His work focuses on Parkin, a protein that plays a key role in removing the cellular damage Parkinson\u2019s causes. Such damage can disrupt the normal function of mitochondria, a vital structure within cells that manage energy use and the transmission of signals to other cells. Parkin manages the removal of damaged mitochondria and associated cargo within cells. Without this protection, the cells can die.<\/p>\n

Durcan\u2019s research builds on studies of Parkin\u2019s behaviour. Other research has uncovered the fact that deubiquitinating enzymes, also known as DUBs, can regulate the protective effects of Parkin in a number of pathways, including its ability to remove damaged mitochondria.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we wondered was, if Parkin had a specific partner to regulate its activity, then maybe by targeting that partner we could use Parkin for therapies,\u201d Durcan explains.<\/p>\n

For Durcan, whose background is in cell biology, this work represents an exciting frontier. He had previously worked on cancer, but the more intriguing, unanswered questions accompanying Parkinson\u2019s disease attracted him to this different field. He contrasts the investigation of these two fields by pointing out that cancer features cell growth, which means there is plenty of material to analyze, while Parkinson\u2019s is characterized by the loss of affected brain cells. The loss of these cells makes it nearly impossible for researchers to access human brain cells affected directly by Parkinson\u2019s that they can study.<\/p>\n

The use of stem cells to replicate large numbers of these affected brains cells for laboratory purposes is overcoming the problem of small amounts of tissue to study in Parkinson\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not perfect neurons, by any means,\u201d says Durcan. \u201cBut at the moment they\u2019re the closest thing we have to a bona fide human model.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of his job, Durcan works with people with Parkinson\u2019s to explain this new science of stem cells to them, an exchange that he finds highly satisfying.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to get into a field where there was still a lot to uncover,\u201d he says, noting that the last decade has been one of solid progress toward understanding Parkin and its role in cell biology. \u201cYou feel like you\u2019re inching closer to some kind of treatment or a way we can modify the disease.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read about\u00a0other researchers<\/a>\u00a0recently funded by the Parkinson Canada Research Program by visiting the research section of\u00a0archiveparkinson.thedev.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At the Montreal Neurological Institute, neuroscientist Thomas Durcan studies the mechanisms within the human brain that can be exploited to … En savoir plus<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":1621,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[237],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHelping the Brain fight Parkinson\u2019s - Investigating the effect of USP8 on Parkin Function - Parkinson Canada<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"fr_FR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Helping the Brain fight Parkinson\u2019s - Investigating the effect of USP8 on Parkin Function - Parkinson Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At the Montreal Neurological Institute, neuroscientist Thomas Durcan studies the mechanisms within the human brain that can be exploited to ... En savoir plus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Parkinson Canada\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parkinsoncanada\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-15T18:02:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/thomas-durcan-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"279\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"communications@parkinson.ca\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ParkinsonCanada\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ParkinsonCanada\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u00c9crit par\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"communications@parkinson.ca\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Dur\u00e9e de lecture estim\u00e9e\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/\",\"name\":\"Helping the Brain fight Parkinson\u2019s - Investigating the effect of USP8 on Parkin Function - Parkinson Canada\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-15T18:02:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-15T18:02:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/03860c23b3c90c09c6aade3ba61072d9\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Helping the Brain fight Parkinson\u2019s — Investigating the effect of USP8 on Parkin Function\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/\",\"name\":\"Parkinson Canada\",\"description\":\"Empowering the Parkinson's community across Canada\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/03860c23b3c90c09c6aade3ba61072d9\",\"name\":\"communications@parkinson.ca\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"fr-FR\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/931eabe92f8bed16e93390bff0d660ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/931eabe92f8bed16e93390bff0d660ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"communications@parkinson.ca\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Helping the Brain fight Parkinson\u2019s - Investigating the effect of USP8 on Parkin Function - Parkinson Canada","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"fr_FR","og_type":"article","og_title":"Helping the Brain fight Parkinson\u2019s - Investigating the effect of USP8 on Parkin Function - Parkinson Canada","og_description":"At the Montreal Neurological Institute, neuroscientist Thomas Durcan studies the mechanisms within the human brain that can be exploited to ... En savoir plus","og_url":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/","og_site_name":"Parkinson Canada","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parkinsoncanada\/","article_published_time":"2018-05-15T18:02:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":279,"url":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/thomas-durcan-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"communications@parkinson.ca","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ParkinsonCanada","twitter_site":"@ParkinsonCanada","twitter_misc":{"\u00c9crit par":"communications@parkinson.ca","Dur\u00e9e de lecture estim\u00e9e":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/","url":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/","name":"Helping the Brain fight Parkinson\u2019s - Investigating the effect of USP8 on Parkin Function - Parkinson Canada","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-05-15T18:02:45+00:00","dateModified":"2018-05-15T18:02:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/03860c23b3c90c09c6aade3ba61072d9"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"fr-FR","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/helping-the-brain-fight-parkinsons-investigating-the-effect-of-usp8-on-parkin-function\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Helping the Brain fight Parkinson\u2019s — Investigating the effect of USP8 on Parkin Function"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/","name":"Parkinson Canada","description":"Empowering the Parkinson's community across Canada","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"fr-FR"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/03860c23b3c90c09c6aade3ba61072d9","name":"communications@parkinson.ca","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"fr-FR","@id":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/931eabe92f8bed16e93390bff0d660ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/931eabe92f8bed16e93390bff0d660ab?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"communications@parkinson.ca"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archiveparkinson.thedev.ca\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}