MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (5/21/2026) — Michael Koob, PhD , and his team from University of Minnesota Medical School have been selected to join the Collaborative Research Network (CRN) External link that opens in the same window, an international, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional network working to address high-priority research questions about Parkinson's disease, through a $6 million grant awarded by Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) External link that opens in the same window, in partnership with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) External link that opens in the same window.
“We still do not fully understand how Parkinson’s disease develops and progresses, and we don’t have effective treatments for preventing or slowing the progression of this disease. We are excited to join the global research network built by ASAP and MJFF to help address these questions through team-based collaboration and open science,” said Dr. Koob, a professor at the Medical School. “We look forward to applying our expertise in building precision-engineered cell systems to provide essential research tools for these global efforts.”
ASAP is expanding the CRN to map the biological blueprint of Parkinson’s disease and build a standardized toolkit of global research resources needed to turn discoveries into treatments. This next phase of the initiative focuses on understanding the heterogeneity of Parkinson’s disease, why it varies across individuals, and advancing discoveries toward more precise diagnostics and future therapies. This effort includes the generation of novel resources for the global research community to work from a common, high-quality baseline, reducing the technical hurdles that limit research progress.
“This work aims to support the entire field by delivering the standardized, open-access tools needed to make Parkinson’s research more reliable and efficient,” said Sonya Dumanis, PhD, managing director of ASAP. “Generating these shared toolkits for our emerging targets is a vital step toward streamlining our research pipeline and speeding up the transition from lab to clinic.”
Dr. Koob’s team will focus on generating a series of gene-replacement preclinical models of Parkinson’s disease. These preclinical models are intended to serve as next-generation tools for identifying critical pathogenic mechanisms in Parkinson’s disease and supporting early-stage therapeutic research.
Because the only genetic difference between the control and experimental models will be the specific human PD mutation, the research team will be able to clearly see the effects of each mutation. These models may help researchers better understand how specific mutations influence disease processes and evaluate potential therapeutic approaches in preclinical settings.
“These models could help us better understand how Parkinson’s disease works and support testing of potential therapies in early stages of research,” Dr. Koob said.
The team’s research project will get underway in June.
###
About the University of Minnesota Medical School
The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. We acknowledge that the U of M Medical School is located on traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Dakota and the Ojibwe, and scores of other Indigenous people, and we affirm our commitment to tribal communities and their sovereignty as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with tribal nations. Learn more at med.umn.edu .