A team at NUI Galway has been awarded funding from the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's research.

The US$300,000 (€267,390) fund is to be used to develop a novel approach to brain repair.

Parkinson's is a condition that primarily affects a person's ability to control movement, leading to a progressive deterioration in ability.

The symptoms of the condition are caused by the degeneration and death of brain cells that regulate movement.

Brain repair for Parkinson's involves replacing these dead cells, by transplanting healthy brain cells back into the brain.

However widespread roll-out of this therapy has been hindered by the poor survival of the implanted cells.

Actor Michael J Fox, seen here in November 2017, launched the foundation in 2000 after publicly disclosing his 1991 diagnosis with Parkinson's disease | Image: Anthony Behar/SIPA USA/PA Images

Dr Eilís Dowd's research team at NUIG recently demonstrated that the survival of the cells was dramatically improved when they were implanted into the brain within a 'supportive gel' made from collagen.

This was published in the Nature journal, Scientific Reports.

NUIG says the funding from the Michael J Fox Foundation will allow Dr Dowd to take this research to the next level.

Dr Eilís Dowd pictured in her laboratory | Image courtesy of Ishka Films' from Feats of Modest Valour documentary

She will test if the collagen gel can also improve the survival of healthy brain cells generated from adult stem cells.

Dr Dowd says: "This funding from The Michael J Fox Foundation will allow us to test if this approach can also improve survival and reparative ability of healthy brain cells derived from adult stem cells.

"If so, this could lead to a dramatic improvement in brain repair approaches for Parkinson's - a field that has been hampered for years by poor transplant survival."

The research will be led by Dr Dowd, in collaboration with colleagues from the Galway Neuroscience Centre and CÚRAM, the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Research in Medical Devices at NUIG, and the University of Edinburgh.

The Michael J Fox Foundation is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson's disease through a funded research agenda, and to ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson's.