Understanding Disease, Advancing Therapies, and Empowering Scientists
Supporting research that deepens understanding, advances therapies, and develops scientific talent.
Advancing Science Together
Our research strategy is built around a clear goal: to accelerate progress toward a future in which Parkinson’s and dementia with Lewy bodies can be detected earlier, treated more effectively, and ultimately stopped.
We support excellent basic science and clinical research—but we also invest in the people, ideas, and international partnerships needed to turn discovery into lasting progress.
Two Diseases and One Connected Research Strategy
Parkinson’s and dementia with Lewy bodies are closely related disorders. Both are associated with the abnormal accumulation of alpha-synuclein, yet they can affect different brain networks and give rise to distinct patterns of movement, cognitive, behavioral, and autonomic symptoms.
American Friends of ParkinsonFonds Deutschland is committed to advancing research in both Parkinson’s and dementia with Lewy bodies—a focus that remains underrepresented across much of the current funding landscape.
Our Research Priorities
Understand What Drives Disease
We need to understand why Parkinson’s and dementia with Lewy bodies begin, how abnormal alpha-synuclein damages nerve cells, and why certain cells and brain regions are especially vulnerable.
We support research into protein aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction, impaired waste removal, neuroinflammation, genetic susceptibility, environmental risk factors, and co-pathologies—the foundations for better diagnostics and more targeted treatments.
Detect Disease Earlier
The biological changes underlying Parkinson’s and dementia with Lewy bodies begin years before diagnosis. We aim to advance biomarkers that can detect diseases earlier, track their progression, and distinguish between different biological forms. Earlier and more precise detection could open a critical window for treatment when more nerve cells may still be protected.
Develop Treatments That Change the Course of Disease
Our highest priority is to advance treatments that target the biology of Parkinson’s and Dementia with Lewy bodies to slow and ultimately stop disease progression. We also support work to improve current therapies – improving symptom control, reducing side effects, and addressing complications such as levodopa-induced dyskinesia – so people living with the disease can benefit from progress today as well as tomorrow.
Build the People
and Partnerships Behind Progress
Breakthroughs depend on talented scientists, strong research environments, and lasting collaboration. We support early-career researchers in learning specialized methods at leading institutions and progressing toward scientific independence. We also aim to help future research leaders establish dedicated Parkinson’s and Dementia with Lewy bodies laboratories, strengthen international networks, and build new centers of expertise.
Advancing Ideas at Every Stage
Scientific progress does not always begin with a large, mature project. Sometimes it begins with an unexpected observation, a new method, or a bold hypothesis that has not yet generated extensive preliminary data. Our strategy therefore combines two complementary approaches:
Advancing Important Research Projects
We support rigorous, investigator-initiated studies that address clearly defined questions and can generate robust mechanistic, diagnostic, translational, or therapeutic advances.
Giving New Ideas Their First Opportunity
We also support exploratory, higher-risk research with strong scientific potential. These projects may test feasibility, generate pilot data, establish a new technology, or open an entirely new direction for future research.
Bringing the Right People to the Right Place
Expertise, technologies, patient cohorts, experimental models, and research infrastructure are distributed across institutions and countries. Important progress can be delayed when researchers cannot access the knowledge or methods they need.
Our transatlantic programs connect scientists and institutions in the United States and Germany. Early-career researchers can enter a new scientific environment, learn specialized techniques, and establish networks that may shape their entire careers. More advanced investigators can strengthen their independence, build dedicated research groups, and create sustainable partnerships between leading institutions.
We believe that international exchange is not an additional benefit of research—it is a powerful driver of discovery.
From Individual Grants to a Stronger Research Community
“Our programs are not separate initiatives – they are designed to build on one another. A small exploratory grant can provide the first evidence needed to launch a larger research project. A postdoctoral fellowship can introduce a young scientist to an approach that later shapes an entire career. And an investigator award can help establish a laboratory that trains the next generation of researchers and creates collaborations that endure for years. This is how individual opportunities grow into lasting scientific progress.” Quote by Richard A. Schirtzer
In this way, we aim to support more than individual studies. We want to build scientific capacity, connect complementary expertise, and strengthen the wider Parkinson’s and DLB research community.
