SPARK NS Selects Eight Projects to Receive Aggregate Funding of Up to $16 Million to Advance Academic Discoveries in Parkinson’s Disease from the Lab to the Clinic

Academic research teams of selected projects participate in a translational research program that eliminates barriers that prevent promising discoveries from getting to the clinic

/EIN News/ -- MENLO PARK, Calif., April 03, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SPARK NS today announced the eight projects and principal investigators selected for the SPARK NS Translational Research Program, 2025 Cohort. Participation in a SPARK NS program cohort lasts two years and includes milestone-based funding of up to $2,000,000¹ for each project, education and training in drug development and translational research for participating teams, mentoring from 75+ industry expert advisors, and scientific and business networking opportunities. SPARK NS is dedicated to advancing academic discoveries in Parkinson’s disease and autism around the world from the lab to the clinic.

The eight projects selected for the 2025 Cohort focus on Parkinson’s disease. Combined with the five projects selected for the 2024 Cohort, SPARK NS now has 13 Parkinson’s disease projects based in the US and the UK actively participating in its translational research program and eligible for up to $26 million in aggregate funding. SPARK NS will release a Call for Proposals for the 2026 Cohort of the program in April 2025. For the 2026 Cohort, SPARK NS will accept applications from principal investigators in the US, Canada, UK, and Europe with projects focused on Parkinson’s disease and autism.

“The typical drug development journey is long and expensive with many obstacles standing in the way of lab discoveries on the path to commercialization²,” said Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD, a SPARK NS Board Director and Chief Science and Education Advisor. “Funding is essential, but it’s not enough. The SPARK NS program provides a high level of support at a crucial stage that prepares academic researchers for the rigor of the entire drug development process. Participating in the SPARK NS program improves the odds that promising therapeutics will make it to market where they can directly benefit patients.”

Dr. Mochly-Rosen is the originator of the SPARK model of translational research, a unique approach to drug development refined over two decades that has achieved an exceptional success rate of 50%³ at advancing academic projects to licensing and/or clinical trials. The SPARK model is the foundation of the SPARK NS Translational Research Program.

See the projects selected for the SPARK NS program 2025 and 2024 cohorts on our website here. Learn more about SPARK NS programs here.

Projects and principal investigators selected for the 2025 Cohort are:

Development of a Small-Molecule Therapy for Treating Parkinson’s Disease

David S. Eisenberg, DPhil, Paul D. Boyer Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Los Angeles
Bio: https://www.chemistry.ucla.edu/directory/eisenberg-david-s/

An Integrated Approach to Identifying Pharmacological Stabilizers for Parkinson’s Disease

Mark Henderson, PhD, Group Leader, Biology, National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS/NIH)
Bio: https://ncats.nih.gov/about/our-staff/hendersonmj

Targeting the Integrated Stress Response Pathway to Boost Mitophagy for Parkinson’s Disease

Miratul Muqit, MBChB, PhD, Professor of Experimental Neurology, University of Dundee
Bio: https://www.dundee.ac.uk/people/miratul-muqit

Restoring Mitochondrial Function in Parkinson’s Disease

Michael P. Rapé, PhD, Professor of Molecular Therapeutics and Investigator, HHMI, 
University of California, Berkeley
Bio: https://mcb.berkeley.edu/labs/rape/

A Bioenergetic Activator for Parkinson’s Disease

Timothy A. Ryan, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry, Weill Cornell Medicine
Bio: https://sites.google.com/site/ryanlab1/Home

Stimulating Endolysosomal Function for Parkinson’s Disease

David K. Simon, MD, PhD, Professor of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School
Bio: https://research.bidmc.org/david-simon/people/dr-david-simon-0

A Disease Modifying Gene Therapy for Parkinson’s Disease for Multimodal Patient Benefit

Kathy Steece-Collier, PhD, Professor, Department of Translational Neuroscience, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
Bio: https://translationalscience.msu.edu/research-groups/steece-collier-lab.html

Development of a Calcium Channel Inhibitor to Slow Parkinson’s Disease Progression

D. James Surmeier, PhD, Nathan Smith Davis Professor and Chair, Department of Neuroscience, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University
Bio: https://www.feinberg.northwestern.edu/faculty-profiles/az/profile.html?xid=13458

About SPARK NS
SPARK NS is an independent nonprofit translational research organization founded in 2023 to advance promising academic discoveries in neuroscience from the lab to the clinic. SPARK NS focuses on Parkinson’s disease and autism. Through its ongoing translational research program, SPARK NS provides academic researchers with funding, extensive education in drug development, mentorship, and networking opportunities to close gaps in knowledge and know-how and eliminate barriers that slow or prevent promising discoveries from directly benefiting patients. As an independent nonprofit, SPARK NS is free to find and support the most promising projects and research teams in our areas of focus regardless of institutional affiliation. For more information, visit us at www.sparkns.org and follow us on LinkedIn.

Contact:
Susan Thomas
Communications Director
media@sparkns.org 

¹Not all funds awarded go directly to PIs’ laboratories. For example, work done by vetted research organizations or academic research facilities is paid for by SPARK NS directly to the organizations from awarded funds.

²Mochly-Rosen, D., and Grimes, K., Editors, Practical Guide to Drug Development in Academia: The SPARK Approach, Second Edition, Switzerland: Springer Nature (2023)

³Kim, J.S., Kargotich, S., Lee, S.H. et al. SPARKing academic technologies across the valley of death. Nature Biotechnology 42, 339-342 (2024).