Fox Foundation backs Inflazome Parkinson’s project

Irish start-up Inflazome has won $1 million in funding from the Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) to help it develop a brain imaging probe for Parkinson’s, as well as a new drug class for the disease. The cash injection will be used to support a positron emission tomography (PET) imaging technique that will help Inflazome bring forward small molecule drugs that target NLRP3, a protein complex or ‘inflammasome’ thought to be involved in harmful inflammatory processes in Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. Specifically, the money will be used to fund the development of a PET tracer that will be able to identify the presence of NLRP3 inflammasomes, which are part of the innate immune system and a defence against pathogens. In some diseases, including Parkinson’s, it is thought that the inflammasome starts to function incorrectly and becomes activated even when there is no pathogen to fight, leading to the destruction of neurons in the brain.