Using fruit flies and mice, a team of Swiss researchers have identified a gene which plays a role in protecting against Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s is a degenerative brain disease – characterised by the destruction of specific brain cells called dopaminergic neurons leading to tremors and an effect on muscle movement.

Researchers at the University of Geneva, investigated the destruction of these neurons and identified a key protein in flies, and also in mice, which plays a protective role against this disease – see Nature Communications – which they hope will lead to potential new treatments.