Sick Plant Suffering For Parkinson Patients

In a cooperative effort between the clinical unit at Stavanger University Hospital and the molecular biological experts at the University of Stavanger the researchers will now use plants to gain an understanding of Parkinson’s disease. From left: Professor Jan Petter Larsen, Senior Researcher Xiang Ming Xu, Professor Simon G. Møller. Photo: Uis.no

The research plant Arabidopsis thaliana is currently a patient in a laboratory at the University of Stavanger. Researchers hope it can give the answer to how Parkinson patients can achieve a better quality of life.

This is the first time plants are being used to uncover the reason why Parkinson patients experience a gradual loss of nerve cells. This is being done in a cooperation between the clinical unit at Stavanger University Hospital and the molecular biological experts at the University of Stavanger.

The collaboration between Stavanger University Hospital and the University of Stavanger represents a unique way of analysing and understanding the mechanisms behind neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.

“We can transfer these findings from plants to humans, because plants have many of the proteins that humans have,” says Professor Simon G. Møller, head of Centre for Organelle Research (CORE) at Stavanger University, and Professor Jan Petter Larsen who heads the National Competency Centre for Movement Disorders at Stavanger University Hospital.

Stavanger University Hospital has been involved in Parkinson’s disease (Parkinsonism) research since 1992 and is the leading establishment in this field of research in Norway. The hospital is currently heading a major clinical research project involving 200 patients, who are to be followed up over the next 12 years.

Read more on: Uis.no