The second Oxford Parkinson’s Research Day organised by the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre (OPDC) was held on Tuesday 10th of September at the Medical Sciences Teaching Centre. The event, which attracted 165 attendees, featured 16 talks and 33 posters covering the full breadth of research within the OPDC. Keynote lectures were given by Dr Patrik Brundin, Center for Neurodegenerative Science, Van Andel Institute, MI, USA and Dr Andrew Singleton, Medical Genetics Section, Laboratory of Neurogenetics, NIA, NIH. The day opened with an eloquent and moving address by Parkinson’s patient David Salisbury. Diagnosed three years ago, David gave a heart-warming account of the support he had received from his family, friends and colleagues and how he is still able to enjoy an active lifestyle. Sally Bromley vice chair of the Parkinson’s UK Oxford branch concluded the day by highlighting the excellent quality of the research being conducted in Oxford and sharing her hopes for future breakthroughs.
The prize for best poster was awarded to Nahid Zokaei (DPAG/NDCN) for her poster ‘Working memory impairments in Gaucher’s disease patients and Parkinson’s disease’ Second prize went to Rosalind Roberts (DPAG) for her poster ‘A Novel method to detect alpha-synuclein oligomers in Parkinson’s disease brain’. The prizes were presented by Florence Storey from R&D Systems Europe Ltd who sponsored the awards. Special thanks go to Joyce Jones for organising this very successful day.