Columbia Mailman Researcher Receives Award to Support Discoveries in Parkinson’s Disease

SPARK NS, an independent non-profit translational research organization, today announced that Gary Miller, PhD, Vice Dean for Research Strategy and Innovation and professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, is among five investigators whose research projects were selected for the 2024 SPARK NS Parkinson’s Disease Translational Research Program, a two-year immersive program designed to advance discoveries in Parkinson’s disease from the lab to the clinic.

The award-winning project led by Gary Miller is titled “Preventing Dopamine-Induced Neurotoxicity in Parkinson's Disease.” Miller, who directs the  Columbia Mailman Center for Innovative Exposomics, has led research on Parkinson’s disease for more than 25 years and has been an author of more than 30 publications on the topic. He has examined the potential role of environmental pollutants in the onset of disease, biomarkers, and mechanisms of disease progression, and how exercise might slow disease progression.

Participation in the SPARK NS includes funding of up to $2,000,000 for each project, education and training in drug development and translational research, mentoring from industry expert advisors, and scientific and business networking opportunities—resources that improve the odds promising therapeutics will make it to market and benefit patients.

“A typical drug development process takes 10 to 12 years and costs more than a billion dollars,” said Daria Mochly-Rosen, PhD, a Board Director and Chief Scientific and Education Advisor of SPARK NS. “Despite all the time and money spent, just 14 percent of lab discoveries that advance to clinical trials make it to market. In our experience, one reason for the low success rate is lack of knowledge, know-how, and tangible support needed to translate academic discoveries into realistic solutions. Academic studies of biomedical breakthroughs published in even the highest impact journals often fail to attract the interest of pharmaceutical companies in drug development efforts.”

Added Mochly-Rosen, “Funding is essential, but it’s not enough. SPARK NS programs provide comprehensive resources and collaborative experiences that prepare academic researchers for the challenging process of drug development.”

Mochly-Rosen is the founder of the SPARK model of translational research, a unique approach to drug development refined over two decades at Stanford University. The SPARK model has an unprecedented success rate of 50 percent at advancing academic projects to licensing and/or clinical trials.

“While the science has advanced markedly since Parkinson’s disease was first described more than 200 years ago, today there are still few effective treatment options for what remains a progressive neurological disorder. Now, new insights into the mechanisms of the disease are opening up new avenues for prevention and treatment that we hope will make a difference for millions of people living with Parkinson’s,” says Miller.