Personalized Parkinson Project

About the study Personalized Parkinson Project

In the Personalized Parkinson Project 650 Parkinson’s patients will be thoroughly examined over the course of two years in order to gain insights into the disease at an individual level and potentially provide a foundation for new, more personalized treatments.

Study objectives

The primary objective of the study is to perform a set of hypothesis-driven analyses on the study data set, aiming to correlate established biomarkers (obtained clinically, from brain MRI, from CSF, from known genetic factors, and from monitoring of biosensors signals) to the rate of disease progression, and to responses to treatment (both pharmacological and behavioural, such as participation in exercise). The secondary objective of the study is to evaluate the Verily Study Watch, to assess how this device could provide information about the function of patients with Parkinson’s disease. Additionally, this cohort will serve as a source of data that can be accessed by qualified researchers worldwide.

Sharing data worldwide

The research data will be securely stored and shared with researchers worldwide using an advanced method called PEP (Polymorphic Encryption and Pseudonymisation), developed by Professors Bart Jacobs and Eric Verheul of the Digital Security Group at the Institute for Computing and Information Sciences at Radboud University. This method makes it possible to store research findings securely, while maximally guaranteeing the privacy of the participants. The PEP-method also makes it possible to share pseudonymised research data with other leading researchers around the world.

News

Participant assessments

Participants are invited to come to the study site in Nijmegen three times, during the 2 years of follow-up, for a full day of data collection. Additionally, they collect data at home.

Participant assessments

All study procedures are performed at Radboud University Medical Center. Participants are invited to come to the study site in Nijmegen three times, during the 2 years of follow-up, for a full day of data collection. The visits include the following assessments:

Detailed clinimetrics
Blood sampling
ECG & holter
Neuroimaging
Lumbar puncture (optional)

Before the study visits participants receive a kit for stool collection at home. After the study visits participants are asked to complete a variety of questionnaires for self-monitoring and are asked to wear the Verily Study Watch (up to 23 hours a day) for longitudinal measurements of physiologic activity and environmental data.

For an overview of the study and a more detailed view on the data (biomarkers and clinimetrics) some factsheets were developed. Click here to download them.