Queenstown Public Lecture
FREE EVENT: NO BOOKINGS REQUIRED
More than 10,000 New Zealanders have Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disease of the brain that affects the nervous system. In most cases there is no absolute cause, and while there are drug treatments that can help to alleviate symptoms in some patients, clinicians and scientists are still mostly relying on the drug levodopa, discovered more than 40 years ago, for treating Parkinson’s.
Gene therapy is a promising treatment approach for Parkinson’s disease to complement new and existing drugs (including levodopa) and surgical interventions. It is hoped that gene therapy will offer an alternative for people with Parkinson’s for whom surgery is not an option and who have developed side effects from the drugs they are taking.
One of New Zealand’s leading neuroscientists, Associate Professor Debbie Young, has focused much of her research on the application of gene therapy in Parkinson’s disease. In this lecture, Dr Young will discuss her exciting research work and outline the hope that gene therapy offers for Parkinson’s disease and many other neurodegenerative diseases.
Brought to you in association with Wakatipu U3A
