Highlights of Hope 20th Anniversary

PARKINSON’S
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A LEGACY OF HOPE: SHIFTING THE
PARADIGM ON PARKINSON’S DISEASE
A couple of years after the Institute was
founded, Jay Van Andel’s autobiography,
An Enterprising Life, hit bookshelves
across the nation. In it, he detailed his
hope for the then fledgling biomedical
research and science education institute
he and his wife Betty had founded on a
hill in Grand Rapids. At the core of his
hopeful words was a specific call to find
new ways to treat the two most common
neurodegenerative diseases—Parkinson’s,
with which he had been recently diagnosed,
and Alzheimer’s, with which Betty had been
diagnosed many years earlier.
As the Institute grew, his words remained
a constant inspiration for the work
ahead. By 2012, it was time. The Institute
had the facilities. It had the resources.
It just needed the right person to lead
the charge against neurodegenerative
diseases.
(PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS, LEFT TO RIGHT) DRS. JEREMY VAN RAAMSDONK, JIYAN MA,
PATRIK BRUNDIN, DARREN MOORE AND LENA BRUNDIN.
Direct from Sweden
In 2011, Institute CEO David Van Andel
found the leader who would shape VARI’s
Center for Neurodegenerative Science.
Dr. Patrik Brundin was renowned in the
world of neuroscience, a pioneering
scientist and clinician who had been part
of truly groundbreaking work in the field
of Parkinson’s research and treatment.
Those first conversations between
Van Andel and Brundin in Grand Rapids
held glimpses of a bright future, but were
also firmly rooted in the memories of their
fathers. Jay Van Andel, David’s father and
the founder of the Institute, had passed
away in 2004 from complications related
to a long battle with Parkinson’s. Brundin’s
father also had fought the disease and
served as the driving inspiration behind
his son’s passion for finding a cure.
“I’m driven by my father’s memory every
day,” Brundin said. “Seven to 10 million
people worldwide have Parkinson’s. That’s
seven to 10 million mothers, fathers,
brothers, sisters and friends. And that’s
seven to 10 million reasons to do this work.”
By the time he left Michigan to return to
Sweden, Brundin was convinced—Grand
Rapids was the place he needed to be.
A New Mission
When Brundin officially arrived at
the Institute in 2012, he wasted no
time establishing the Center for
Neurodegenerative Science as
well as Grand Challenges in Parkinson’s
Disease, an annual symposium designed
to highlight cutting-edge science and bring
together the scientific, medical and patient
communities. The first symposium was a
small affair but, like the Center itself, was
poised to grow significantly in size
and scope.
By early 2016, just a few short years after
its creation, the Center was growing rapidly,
having eight exceptional, established
investigators and rising talent. In much the
same way, the field of Parkinson’s research
also hit an inflection point, one bolstered
by scientific discoveries and a dedicated
community of people with Parkinson’s and
their advocates.
Answering the Call
Two years earlier, a crowd of more than
325 people—scientists, clinicians, students,
people with Parkinson’s and advocates—sat
in awed silence in the Institute’s Tomatis
Auditorium during Grand Challenges. On
stage, Tom Isaacs, co-founder of the UK
research charity The Cure Parkinson’s Trust
and one of the community’s most influential
and well-respected voices, gave a powerful
speech outlining the unmet needs of the
Parkinson’s community: more definitive
diagnosis, improved care and therapies that
change the course of the disease.
“We’re constantly learning
something new—the pace is
absolutely astounding. Each discovery is
another step closer to a future in which
Parkinson’s no longer robs people
of their golden years. There’s a
big shift coming—we can
see it on the horizon.”
– Dr. Patrik Brundin
“Our sense of urgency is intense,” Isaacs
said. “I think the world of Parkinson’s is on
the verge of a seismic shift for the better.”
His speech came at an auspicious
time. For more than 50 years, treating
Parkinson’s looked more or less the
same and had focused on mitigating
symptoms rather than addressing the
actual underlying causes of the disease.
But science has been far from idle during
this time; in fact, it has been booming.
The Right Place, the Right Time
More is known about Parkinson’s now than
THE CURE PARKINSON’S TRUST CO-FOUNDER, TOM ISAACS, ADDRESSES THE
CROWD AT THE 2014 GRAND CHALLENGES IN PARKINSON’S DISEASE SYMPOSIUM.
ever before. Once thought to be strictly a
movement disorder, scientists have learned
that it can include a host of non-motor
symptoms such as depression, loss of
sense of smell and cognitive impairment.
And they’ve learned how it spreads from
cell to cell in the brain, slowly killing neurons
that produce dopamine, a chemical
required for smooth movement.
These findings and other insights into
the underpinnings of Parkinson’s didn’t
happen in a vacuum; rather, they required
a multidisciplinary and collaborative
approach, both of which are at the heart
of the Center’s philosophy. By recruiting
exceptional scientists from across the
spectrum of Parkinson’s research, from
genetics and epigenetics to pathology to
therapeutic development, VARI is building
a critical mass of expertise, ensuring
a scientifically strong and innovative
environment. The benefits of this work are
broad, often spilling over to inform research
on other neurodegenerative diseases such
as Alzheimer’s and multiple system atrophy.
At the same time, VARI scientists reach
beyond Grand Rapids to collaborate with
colleagues around the world, delving
deeper into the mechanisms behind
Parkinson's in an effort to translate their
findings into new ways of definitively
diagnosing the disease, slowing or stopping
progress, and repairing the damage. Their
ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life
for people with Parkinson’s. They’re getting
closer; together with The Cure Parkinson’s
Trust, VARI is finding new uses for existing
drugs approved to treat other diseases
that may also treat Parkinson’s. Some of
these efforts have already made it into the
crucial clinical trial phase, and others are
well on their way.
The Center and its efforts to move therapies
to the clinic continue to grow—plans call for
the recruitment of a neurologist to establish
VARI-supported clinical trials where Jay and
Betty Van Andel’s dream began, in Grand
Rapids. With every step, their vision—the
Institute’s vision—to positively impact
human health is becoming a reality.
“We’re constantly learning something
new—the pace is absolutely astounding,”
Brundin said. “Each discovery is another
step closer to a future in which Parkinson’s
no longer robs people of their golden years.
There’s a big shift coming—we can see it on
the horizon.”
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