SCIENTISTS hope a potential cure for Parkinson’s Disease could be developed in Oxford by 2020 after a research centre won £6m of extra funding.

The Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre (OPDC) has been given the money by national research charity Parkinson’s UK. The cash will go towards research using brain cells to find new drugs to stunt the development of the disease, or even develop a cure for it in the next five years.

Chief executive of Parkinson’s UK Steve Ford said: “This new research grant comes at the 50th anniversary of Levadopa, the main drug used to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s.

“For people who have Parkinson’s, it’s quite frustrating that the main course of treatment is 50 years old.

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“The team at the OPDC are looking at new treatments and doing groundbreaking research to help patients and Oxford should be proud to have a world-leading research facility.”

The OPDC, based in South Parks Road, was set up in 2010 with a £5m grant from Parkinson’s UK.

Scientists have collected skin tissue from people, using stem cell technology to then turn the skin into brain cells. The cells will be used to test possible cures or treatments for Parkinson’s. More than 500 people in Oxfordshire are known to have Parkinson’s and many of them are involved in the study.

Director of the centre Richard Wade-Martin said: “The past five years have been very important for the centre. Over the next five years we will be working with the samples from Parkinson’s sufferers.

“What we will do is test certain therapeutic compounds that could rescue the deficiencies in cells. We won’t have a drug for Parkinson’s patients to take by 2020, but my hope is that we will have a therapeutic compound by 2020 that can be taken to [human] clinical trials.”

Parkinson’s is a neurological disease that kills off brain cells that produce a chemical called dopamine.

Last year the Oxford Mail revealed that Sir Roger Bannister had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

The first man to run a fourminute mile, at Iffley Road, said it was “ironic” he had been diagnosed with the disease, having been an acclaimed neurologist.

Oxford Mail:

Lucy Norman.

Barford St Michael resident Lucy Norman was diagnosed in 2010.

The 42-year-old, who is involved in the OPDC study alongside husband Angus, said: “[Parkinson’s] has changed my life as I’ve had to quit work because it gets hard for me to write now but I am making the most of my life. I’m really proud to be involved in the study because not only have I contributed to finding a cure for Parkinson’s, but I now understand the disease a lot more.”