Our research integrates clinical and laboratory research with the aim of innovating and trialling new treatments for Parkinson’s and related conditions.
We are committed to involving people in research and are dependent upon people volunteering their time to help us.
Join Our Research Register
If you wish to join our secure register of people with neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, who are interested in hearing more about research and clinical trials please visit the Rowling CARE website
Blogs and news of current research
Two blogs that cover interesting areas of research and summarise current debates in Parkinson’s disease and related disorders are:
Our Parkinson’s Research Clinic
The Parkinson’s Research Clinic is held on alternate Wednesdays at the Anne Rowling Clinic.
For more information, please visit the Anne Rowling Clinic website or contact: Dr Gordon Duncan
Our Current studies
1. PD COMM
This is a multi-centre randomised controlled trial comparing the clinical and cost effectiveness of Lee Silverman Voice Treatment with standard NHS Speech and Language Therapy in Parkinson’s.
We are currently recruiting to this study in Lothian.
For more information please visit the PD COMM website
2. Leucine and ACE inhibitors as therapies for sarcopenia: the LACE Trial
If you are aged over 70 and not as strong as you used to be, you may be eligible to take part in this clinical trial. The LACE Trial is investigating whether a medicine used for the heart (perindopril) and a food supplement (leucine) can help muscles become stronger.
The study is being conducted at the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility at the Western General. As part of the trial you will be asked to take a study tablet once a day and sprinkle a small scoop of the food supplement in your food or drink three times a day. Taxi transport can be arranged or travel expenses reimbursed.
If you are interested in taking part in this study or would like more information please contact the study team in Edinburgh on 0131 537 3387 or email Dr Gordon Duncan.
For more information please visit http://www.lacetrial.org.uk/
3. Improving diagnostic and care pathways in progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration
The neurology doctors running the study, Dr Diane Swallow (Neurology Registrar & Clinical Research Fellow) and Dr Carl Counsell (Clinical Reader & Honorary Consultant in Neurology), are aiming to describe the routes to diagnosis and care pathways of people with these conditions to find out how diagnosis and care could be improved. The study will also give close family members/carers of people with PSP and CBD the opportunity to participate, in order to find out the support that carers of people with PSP or CBD require.
There are a variety of different ways to take part. These include simply giving your permission for the neurology doctors in the research team to review your medical records to see how you were diagnosed, to the completion of a postal survey about your symptoms and their effects on your daily activities and quality of life, or a study visit at your local hospital or at home where a movement examination and memory tests would be carried out. Freepost envelopes will be provided for the return of questionnaires, and any travel expenses you would incur travelling to your local hospital, if you chose to take part in this aspect of the study, would of course be reimbursed. The team would also be happy to come to see you in your home if required.
If you would like to find out more about the study, and the different ways in which you and your carer (if they also wished to take part) could help, please speak with your doctor or specialist nurse for more details.
Previous studies
Dance for Parkinson’s disease
This study is evaluated the impact on health-related quality of life that contemporary dance has on people with Parkison’s and their care-givers. It is being conducted at Dance Base in Edinburgh and in Glasgow.
Investigating skin chemicals as a new way to diagnose Parkinson’s disease
We are investigating whether the profile of metabolites detected in the sebum of patients with Parkinson’s differs from control subjects and how this may be developed as a biomarker for Parkinson’s. This project was recently highlighted in a BBC Scotland programme.
The Edinburgh Research Interest Group
The Edinburgh Research Interest Group is run by the Edinburgh Branch of Parkinson’s UK and provides opportunities for members with an interest in Parkinson’s research to meet, communicate, work together and generally further the cause of research.
