Researchers use math to target Parkinson’s symptoms

By Staff Reports 

University of Pittsburgh mathematicians have been collaborating with Pitt’s School of Medicine to find ways to stop the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, thanks in part to a four-year, $1.86 million grant from the National Science Foundation and a five-year $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Pitt mathematicians, working with neurobiology researchers, are using computational models, experiments and analysis of models and data to study the way that signals are transferred between the basal ganglia, a collection of nuclei found in the brain that helps with motor control, and the thalamus, its downstream target in the brain. Although scientists can’t yet prevent the cell death associated with Parkinson’s, their study of mathematical patterns could guide the development of less invasive treatments that block the motor symptoms of the disease.

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