The Monument Discovery Project

The Monument Discovery Project, funded by the Monument Trust, is our biggest ever research grant at £5million over 5 years.

This groundbreaking project brings together a world-class team of researchers at the University of Oxford to accelerate progress towards a cure for Parkinson's.

The research team made this video to explain a bit more about the project and what's involved in taking part:

Transcript - Monument Discovery Project video

Take part in the Monument Discovery Project

You may be eligible to take part in the study if you live in the Thames Valley region and:

• have been diagnosed with Parkinson's in the last 3 years
• or have a brother or sister who has Parkinson's

Need more information?

• Monument Discovery study - participant information sheet for people with Parkinson's (PDF, 100KB)
• Monument Discovery study - participant information sheet for first degree relatives (PDF, 114KB)
• Monument Discovery study newsletter issue 2 (PDF, 427KB)

Get involved by contacting:

The Discovery research team
01865 234892
Parkinsons.Discovery@nhs.net  

Taking us closer to a cure

Despite major research breakthroughs, there are still no treatments that can slow, stop or reverse the progression of Parkinson's.

The Monument Discovery Project team will focus upon 3 central themes of research to accelerate progress towards a cure for Parkinson's.

Theme 1: What happens inside the nerve cells that die in Parkinson's?

The research team will look for rare genetic changes that may increase a person's risk of developing Parkinson's.

They will then investigate what these faulty genes do inside human nerve cells. This will help them to work out why certain nerve cells are lost in Parkinson's.

Pinpointing what goes wrong inside nerve cells may lead to the development of new treatments that can help the remaining nerve cells survive and work for longer inside the brain.

Theme 2: Better animal models that truly reflect Parkinson's

Most current animal models are created by damaging the nerve cells that are lost in Parkinson's. But this does not reflect the slow development of the human condition.

The research team will use key genes identified in Theme 1 to develop mouse and rat models that more closely resemble human Parkinson's. Studying these models will provide crucial clues to how Parkinson's develops inside the ageing brain.

These new models will be vital for testing new treatments that may be able to slow, halt or even reverse the development of Parkinson's.

Theme 3: Diagnosing Parkinson's earlier - before the symptoms develop

At present, there is no definitive test for Parkinson's and no way of identifying people who are at risk of developing the condition.

Looking for subtle differences in DNA from skin cells, brain imaging, and collecting samples of blood and cerebral-spinal fluid from the people, will help the team find new ways to spot Parkinson's earlier.

Developing tests that can diagnose Parkinson's at an earlier stage, coupled with treatments that tackle the root problems, would provide the best chance of protecting the remaining nerve cells and slowing or stopping Parkinson's.

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