Highlights of Hope Spring/Summer 23

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RESEARCH VAI honors game-changing Parkinson’s disease scientists Each year, VAI brings together hundreds of scientists and people with Parkinson’s as part of our Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease scientific symposium and parallel Rallying to the Challenge meeting, hosted in partnership with Cure Parkinson’s. These events offer a unique opportunity to explore the latest in Parkinson’s research while connecting the research and advocate communities under the banner of our shared goal — finding a cure. They also provide a venue to recognize individuals who have made extensive contributions to the field. Our 2022 honorees include University of Toronto’s Dr. Anthony Lang, who was awarded the Jay Van Andel Award for Outstanding Achievement in Parkinson’s Disease Research. Established in 2012 in memory of VAI Founder Jay Van Andel, this award is given to scientists who have made exceptional, wide-ranging contributions to Parkinson’s research. Lang is among the most highly cited researchers in the field of movement disorders. His groundbreaking, multi-faceted research seeks to understand how movement disorders such as Parkinson’s begin, how they spread in the brain, and how these insights may be translated into treatments that slow or stop disease progression. Cure Parkinson’s and VAI also recognized Drs. Ray Dorsey of the University of Rochester and Michael Okun of the University of Florida with the 2022 Tom Isaacs Award, which honors the memory of the late Cure Parkinson’s co-founder. In addition to their research, Dorsey and Okun contributed to an inspiring book that outlines a plan to “prevent, advocate, care and treat” Parkinson’s. A third Honorary Award for Outstanding Contributions was presented to Dr. Patrik Brundin, a global leader in Parkinson’s research and former deputy chief scientific officer of VAI. Now in industry and an adjunct faculty member at VAI, Dr. Brundin continues to work toward new therapies that impede Parkinson’s progression and improve quality of life. Save the date! The next Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s Disease symposium and Rallying to the Challenge meeting will be held Sept. 27–28, 2023. DRS. RAY DORSEY & MICHAEL OKUN ARE VIRTUALLY AWARDED THE TOM ISAACS AWARD 4 | VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE HIGHLIGHTS OF HOPE
New cellular ‘clock’ offers fresh way to measure age Can parts of our bodies age faster than others? The answer is yes, and VAI scientists have developed a new way to measure exactly how. Their findings, published in Nature Communications, detail a new method for pinpointing cellular age that evaluates the number of times a cell has divided rather than relying on chronological time. The more cells replicate, the more likely they will accumulate errors over time that contribute to diseases such as cancer. The research was led by Dr. Jamie Endicott, a Van Andel Institute Graduate School student who recently earned her Ph.D. in the lab of VAI Professor Dr. Peter W. Laird. Laird and Associate Professor Dr. Hui Shen were the corresponding authors of the study. “Cellular aging is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases, but it can be tough to measure. Our cellular ‘clock’ gives us powerful new insights into biological aging, how it differs between cells within a single person, and how it may impact a person’s likelihood of developing disease,” Endicott said. “We have more work to do, but our goal is to translate our method into a test with broad uses, such as evaluating the effect of chemotherapy on cells and measuring whether immune cells become ‘exhausted’ and thus less effective when fighting infection or cancer.” Scientists have long sought an accurate and simple way to measure biological age to better understand its role in health and disease. Although other methods exist, Endicott’s is the first of its kind. It works by measuring the progressive loss of special chemical tags on DNA called methyl groups, which regulate when genes are “on” or “off.” The loss of these marks, which occur throughout a person’s life and correlate with cell divisions rather than chronological age, foreshadow alterations found in cancer cells. The new method builds on earlier research by Laird, Shen and collaborators. Here’s what this process looks like: Think of a healthy 50-year-old person. Endicott’s new cellular clock may reveal that person’s cells are more akin to those in a 45-yearold than a 50-year-old, meaning they are aging more slowly than their chronological age. The reverse is also true: someone who smokes, for example, may have lung cells that age faster than their chronological age, which puts them at a higher risk for developing diseases such as lung cancer. “Jamie’s work is an important step toward a larger goal: utilizing these ‘clocks’ to help patients,” Laird said. “We will continue to refine and calibrate our method in the hope that we will one day be able to apply it to real-life situations, such as risk assessment and clinical decision-making.” Research reported in this publication was supported by Van Andel Institute and the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under award no. R01AG066764 (Laird and Shen). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. Approximately 50% of the funding for this study came from federal sources; approximately 50% came from non-federal sources. DR. JAMIE ENDICOTT VAN ANDEL INSTITUTE HIGHLIGHTS OF HOPE | 5
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Highlights of Hope Spring/Summer 23

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