PARKS DIAGNOSTICS

PARKS biomarker signatures provide a precise definition of Parkinson's disease from a blood sample. PARKS developed from an academic study of LRRK2 function. The PARKS team found that de novo synthesis of proteins is decreased in animal models of Parkinson's disease and in patient skin cells compared to cells from healthy, age-matched individuals. We also identified that LRRK2 activity was increased in cells from sporadic patients, i.e. individuals without a known genetic cause. Based on these findings, we established a high throughput clinical proteomics pipeline to identify disease-defining signatures from patient blood. We are iteratively optimizing and validating these signatures across cohorts. Our main goal is to distinguish between Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders with overlapping symptoms.