New research lays groundwork for safer, more tailored deep brain stimulation

Written by Marisa Wexler, MS | April 6, 2026

• The findings from new research in China may enable personalized deep brain stimulation for people with Parkinson's.
• The study's scientists used MRI scans to track brain circuit changes during DBS treatment.
• The researchers say this work allows them to better understand how this type of Parkinson's treatment influences brain biology.

Scientists have demonstrated that it is possible to collect individualized data on how connections among brain circuits change for people with Parkinson’s disease who are undergoing deep brain stimulation (DBS) as a treatment for their symptoms.

These findings lay the groundwork for more individualized approaches for DBS, and also provide a new resource for researchers to better understand how this type of Parkinson’s treatment influences brain biology, according to the team.

The data were described in “Circuit response to neuromodulation characterized with simultaneous deep brain stimulation and precision neuroimaging in humans,” a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The work was funded mainly by the National Key Research and Development Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

The senior author of the study, Hesheng Liu, PhD, is the cofounder and chief scientific officer of Galaxy Brain Scientific, a China-based company that is working to advance personalized DBS approaches for Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders.

“Our goal is to redefine the treatment paradigm for brain disorders,” Liu said in a company press release detailing the findings. According to Galaxy, “this study establishes the world’s largest longitudinal … dataset to date” on DBS and MRI brain imaging scans.

“By moving from ‘one-size-fits-all’ to ‘one-person-one-strategy,’ we are now pioneering the application of this technology to treat complex conditions beyond Parkinson’s, including autism and Alzheimer’s disease,” Liu said.

Parkinson’s is a neurological disorder in which certain brain cells sicken and die, leading to disruptions in brain signaling that ultimately give rise to disease symptoms.

DBS is a surgical treatment for Parkinson’s in which tiny electrodes are implanted into the brain to deliver gentle electrical stimulation to specific brain regions. DBS is well-established as an effective approach for managing certain Parkinson’s symptoms.

Nonetheless, there’s often a lot of trial and error involved in finding the exact right settings to ease symptoms for each individual.

Each person decides when to share, who to tell, and how much to say

Written by Crystal Onyema | April 1, 2026

One of the initial things I didn’t understand when I became a Parkinson’s caregiver was that not everyone is ready to share their diagnosis right away. From the outside, it can feel like something that should just be said so that people understand what’s going on. But for my late uncle Brandon, it wasn’t that simple. What he was dealing with was real, but how and when he chose to share it was his own decision.

I saw this most clearly when he was with his friends, people who had known him for decades. They understood his sense of humor and how easily he could keep a conversation going. That was just him. So when he started speaking more slowly or took longer to answer, it didn’t seem like anything was different at first.

One of his closest friends laughed about it once, thinking he was just joking like usual and trying to make the moment last. I could see why they thought that. They were responding to the person they had always known. But they didn’t know he was living with Parkinson’s disease. He wasn’t ready to share that yet, and in that moment, I felt like I was carrying a quiet truth that no one else was in on.

Everyone has their own timing

Even early on, I could see that he knew things were changing. He still acted like himself, kept things light, and used humor to try to stay in a conversation. But there were small pauses that felt different. Sometimes I noticed him working harder to find his words or to keep up, even if no one else saw it. It wasn’t denial or avoidance. It was about timing and attempting to maintain control in a situation where so much felt uncertain.

3-year project to stop alpha-synuclein spread 'offers hope for a cure'

Written by Marisa Wexler, MS | March 31, 2026

• Parkinson's disease progression is linked to alpha-synuclein protein clumps in the brain.
• Scientists are developing therapies to block these toxic aggregates.
• The project aims for testing-ready treatment candidates by 2029.

Scientists in Denmark are embarking on a three-year project aiming to develop a Parkinson’s disease treatment that blocks the spread of toxic alpha-synuclein protein in the brain.

“This breakthrough project positions Denmark at the forefront of Parkinson’s disease research, with a bold strategy that offers hope for a cure for patients living with this terrible disease,” project leader Simon Glerup, PhD, associate professor at Aarhus University and co-founder and chief scientific officer of Draupnir Bio, said in a company press release.

Toxic clumps of alpha-synuclein in the brain are a molecular hallmark of Parkinson’s and are thought to play a central role in driving the disease. The project, funded by a 26.7 million DKK (just over $4 million) investment from Innovation Fund Denmark, aims to develop therapies that can target alpha-synuclein in the space around nerve cells. The goal is to stop the spread of these toxic protein clumps that are thought to drive Parkinson’s progression.

The project, dubbed DESYNA (Degradation of Extracellular alpha-SYNuclein Aggregates) will combine research into alpha-synuclein’s role in Parkinson’s done at Aarhus with protein-destroying technology from Draupnir. Researchers hope to design therapies that can grab onto the alpha-synuclein protein and drag it to lysosomes, compartments that act as cellular garbage disposals to destroy molecular waste.

“Our therapy would be the first in the world to specifically remove and prevent the spread of a toxic protein build-up in the brain that is proven to sustain disease progression,” said Glerup.

Scientists hope to have testing-ready candidates by 2029

The project’s goal is to develop both biologics — complex molecules such as antibodies produced in living cells and usually given by injection — and small-molecule therapies that can be taken by mouth. Researchers hope to have preclinically validated candidates ready for further testing by 2029.

“We know that aggregation of [alpha]-syn is central to the progression of Parkinson’s disease,” said Daniel Otzen, PhD, Aarhus professor and DESYNA project partner. “So, by finding new ways to target this process, we aim to go beyond managing symptoms and instead change the course of the disease itself. This approach has the potential to open the door to entirely new treatments and, importantly, to give people living with Parkinson’s disease, and their families, real hope for the future.”