Year 2

Parkinson’s disease is the most common movement disorder due to the degeneration of brain dopaminergic neurons. One strategy to combat the disease is to replenish these neurons in the patients, either through transplantation of stem cell-derived dopaminergic neurons, or through promoting endogenous dopaminergic neuronal production or survival. We have carried out a small molecule based screen to identify compounds that can affect the development and survival of dopaminergic neurons from pluripotent stem cells. The small molecules that we have identified will not only serve as important research tools for understanding dopaminergic neuron development and survival, but potentially could also lead to therapeutics in the induction of dopaminergic neurons for treating Parkinson’s disease.