The 7th OPDC Open Day was held in Oxford on Tuesday 10 September 2024 at the Leonardo Hotel, Oxford. Of the 140 attendees, the majority were patients and families of the Oxford Discovery Cohort. Set up in 2010, this long-term observational study of Parkinson’s and prodromal Parkinson’s is a world-leading Parkinson’s biomarker cohort which has provided an excellent opportunity to understand more about how Parkinson's develops over time, and how Parkinson’s affects different people in different ways.
The day was opened by Professor Michele Hu, welcoming all and giving an update on the latest PD trials, followed by a packed programme of speakers from OPDC, NDCN, OBRC and OUH including:
- Timothee Aubourg & Katarina Gunter on wearable tech and smartphone apps to track motor progression
- Karolien Groenewald on RBD in prodromal PD and the upcoming clinical study
- Sanjay Manohar & Tanja Zerenner on understanding cognitive problems in PD
- Johannes Klein & Tamir Eisenstein on translational brain imaging
- Jamil Razzaque (OUH) & Helen Knott (OUH) on the benefits of aerobic exercise and treadmill training
- Annie Ziyi Zhao & Rory Smith (ICL) on brain donation
- Kalina Naidoo on investigating fibroblasts from PD patients
- Ludo Van Hillegondsberg on proteomics and ‘what we do with that armful of blood’
As well as talks, there were opportunities for Q&As with each speaker, plus plenty of refreshment breaks and lunch which gave attendees and clinicians the chance to speak to and learn from each other.
Many of the audience were participants in trials and studies. For them the day offered insights into how research has progressed thanks to their contributions of time, data, skin samples, and in the words of the comedian Tony Hancock - which we enjoyed a clip of thanks to Ludo Van Hillegondsberg - ‘very nearly an armful’ of blood!
This sentiment was reiterated by Kalina Naidoo in the closing slide of her talk as she said ‘Thank you… none of these experiments could be done without the help of patients’.
All talks were recorded and will be available soon on the Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre website.