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

James Surmeier, PhD, Nathan Smith Davis Professor of Neuroscience and chair of the Department of Neuroscience, has received funding from the SPARK NS Translational Research Program. Projects selected for the program receive milestone-based funding of up to $2 million in-person and online education in drug development and academic entrepreneurship, mentoring from 75+ industry expert advisors and scientific and business networking opportunities.

Surmeier shared the aims of the project and his next steps. 

Tell me about the grant you received. (The source, the $ amount, etc.) 

The award is from SPARK NS. It is for two years and up to $2M. SPARK NS is a branch of Sergey Brin's philanthropic effort to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease.  

What are the aims of the project?  

The project's central goal is to develop an orally-deliverable, small molecule inhibitor of Cav1.3 calcium channels. These channels have been implicated in the neurodegeneration underlying Parkinson’s disease.  

What are your next steps? 

Our next steps are to optimize the drug-like properties of candidate compounds and test our best compounds in mouse models for efficacy.   

What do you hope will come out of this funded research? 

Our overarching goal is to develop a drug that will slow or stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Nothing is known to do that at present. Our hypothesis is that inhibiting brain Cav1.3 calcium channels will accomplish this goal. Our near-term objective is to develop an orally deliverable Cav1.3 channel inhibitor suitable for human clinical trials. 

Learn more about this project.