Scientists at UCLA have found a molecule called CRL01 that was found to stop Parkinson's disease both in cell cultures and in Zebrafish. CLR01 is known as a "molecular tweezer." Basically, a molecular tweezer is a "C" shaped molecular compound that is capable of binding proteins. In this research, it was found that CLR01 specifically binds to a-synuclein, a protein culprit of Parkinson's disease, and both prevent it from aggregating as well as breaking down already formed aggregates in cells and organisms. The most promising discovery is that CLR01 has not been found to be toxic or cause any side effects because it is so specifically efficient at binding only a-synuclein. They do not mention how far they are from human trials, but this is pretty "hot off the press"; hopefully we may see a cure for Parkinson's in the next few years. This link (below) simply gives an overview of the research discoveries, it does not discuss the experiment in great detail.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/parkinson-s-disease-stopped-in-229436.aspx
The research, "A Novel 'Molecular Tweezer' Inhibitor of a-Synuclein Neurotoxicity in Vitro and in Vivo" appears in the current online edition (2012 February 29) of the journal Neurotherapeutics. (I could not find this article myself online, so this is more for Dr. Hens to see).
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