Pioneering Landmark project launches

Launching today, Landmark is a groundbreaking three-year research programme, aiming to understand Parkinson’s in more detail. The project will bring together Parkinson’s UK, Imperial College London and 4 major pharmaceutical companies - GSK, Novartis, Roche and UCB. This programme has been made possible by a founding gift of £4m from the Gatsby charitable foundation.

Aims of the Landmark project

The programme aims to understand what’s happening inside cells affected by Parkinson's by looking more closely than ever before. This will help researchers to pinpoint the causes of Parkinson’s and Parkinson’s dementia, by understanding why some brain cells are more vulnerable to Parkinson’s than others, and uncover potential targets for developing new treatments and finding out which genes increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s.

Despite decades of research, there is currently no available treatment that can stop, reverse or prevent Parkinson’s. Although progress has been made in understanding the causes of the condition, a complete picture of how and why people develop Parkinson’s is still unclear. The Parkinson’s UK Brain Bank plays a vital role in helping create a clearer picture of Parkinson’s, collecting and studying donated brain tissue.

The Landmark project will apply cutting edge techniques to hundreds of tissue samples from the Parkinson’s UK Brain Bank, in order to create a map of what’s changing in different parts of the brain. It will look at the genetic instructions within different cells alongside how these instructions are followed to carry out important functions.

Accelerating the search for new treatments

With 4 major pharmaceutical companies on board and discussions taking place with other potential partners, the Landmark team is uniquely-placed to quickly drive forward this pioneering programme. Each company is contributing towards the costs of the scientific work, and will receive early insights into all discoveries made that can inform their development of new therapies for Parkinson’s.

The new insights gained will also feed directly into the Parkinson’s Virtual Biotech - the drug development arm of Parkinson’s UK, in partnership with the Parkinson’s Foundation - to power the creation of new treatments for the community. Ultimately, however, the unique datasets will be made freely and openly available to the global research community.

Professor David Dexter, Director of Research at Parkinson’s UK, says: 

"The Landmark project is a highlight of my career. I set up the Brain Bank 22 years ago because I knew that one day techniques like single cell type RNAseq gene expression would be possible and allow us to unlock the secrets held in the brains of people with Parkinson’s.

"We are delighted to be bringing together charities, academia and pharmaceutical partners for the first time on this project. Landmark will significantly strengthen our ability to develop potential new treatments for Parkinson’s. To see it launch and know of the potential it has to ultimately change the lives of people living with Parkinson’s is incredible."

Michael Johnson, Professor of Neurology and Genomic Medicine at Imperial College London and the lead researcher for Landmark, says: 

“The Landmark project will produce state-of-the-art datasets that will enable scientists to fully understand the biological ways in which Parkinson’s takes hold and progresses in the brain. But alongside that, our overarching aim is to find new potential drugs that can help us tackle the condition. By identifying the predictive biomarkers involved in Parkinson’s, we hope to speed up the eventual journey of these drugs to patients. I’m honoured to be the academic lead for this bold partnership.”