Source: Good News Network
Michael J. Fox has just announced that his foundation is giving away over $240 million in grants for researching and treating Parkinson’s disease.
The actor, who is best known for his roles in Back to the Future and Spin City, was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s disease shortly before he retired from his career on the silver screen in 2000.
Later that same year, he launched the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, which has since become the world’s largest and most acclaimed nonprofit for Parkinson’s research and advocacy.
Over the course of the last 19 years, the charity has funded more than $800 million in Parkinson’s research – and they just announced that they are giving away $24 million more in grant funding.
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The funding is being distributed in the form of 127 new grant awards for various projects seeking to understand, treat, diagnose, and measure the progression of the disease.
One of the more notable projects to receive a grant from the foundation is a New Zealand research initiative from the University of Auckland which is investigating the genetics of Parkinson’s disease “from an unusual and promising angle.”
Mutations in the gene known as GBA – short for glucocerebrosidase beta acid – are the most common genetic risk factors for Parkinson’s, affecting about 10% of the more than 6 million people estimated…
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