Brief description:

Parkinson’s disease (PD) therapeutics are dismal as Levodopa and dopamine-agonists, poorly treat patient symptomologies. Manifesting -synuclein and iron pathologies ultimately cause complete neuronal death within the Substantia Nigra of PD patients. Synaptic physiology mandates the opening of voltage-gated calcium channels in response to action potentials. Nigral neurons autonomously spike in their membrane potential, enhancing the vulnerability to ion-dependant influx. Through valance similarities, iron can bypass its tight regulation and enter through these voltage-gated channels. In PD, the channels CaV1.3 and CaV2.3 have been identified as potent potentiators of disease pathogenesis. At the Centre of Cancer Cell Biology and Drug Discovery, we are utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to screen our compound libraries, searching of specific high-affinity antagonists of the aforementioned pathogenic calcium channels. The current is amongst the first large-scale projects in Australia to implicate AI technology in medical research. Developing novel therapeutics for PD is ground-breaking work as no clinically available drug can directly treat pathologies, meaning that no silver-lining therapy can mitigate the horrific burden of PD.