{"id":1647,"date":"2021-03-11T14:46:48","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T13:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/uncategorized\/specialist-charity-funders-act-as-catalysts-says-ku-leuven-researcher\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T08:41:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T06:41:24","slug":"specialist-charity-funders-act-as-catalysts-says-ku-leuven-researcher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/uncategorized\/specialist-charity-funders-act-as-catalysts-says-ku-leuven-researcher\/","title":{"rendered":"Specialist charity funders act as catalysts, says KU Leuven researcher"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cSpecialist charity funders\u00a0<\/em><\/span>act as a catalyst:\u00a0<\/em><\/span>spotting potential, providing informed support \n<\/em><\/span>and attracting additional funding from more risk-averse parties.”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

— Professor Peter Vangheluwe, head of KU Leuven\u2019s Laboratory of Cellular Transport Systems<\/p>\n\n\n\n

——————————————————————————————————<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"-<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>In 2020, KU Leuven\u2019s laboratory of Cellular Transport Systems had the results of their research into the role of a specific brain cell protein published in prestigious scientific journal Nature. A high honour and a reflection of the importance of Professor Vangheluwe\u2019s team\u2019s discovery and its potential to offer a pathway to curing Parkinson\u2019s Disease!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it almost didn\u2019t happen. The research project \u2013 examining the role and impact of ATP13A2 transporter proteins in the functioning of neurons \u2013 was rejected by the university\u2019s usual funders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\u201cIt was not easy to convince people to fund the type of basic research that we were proposing. They did not find it sufficiently interesting and the outcome was too uncertain,\u201d<\/em> Professor Vangheluwe told the Demoucelle Parkinson Charity, which partners with the Michael J. Fox Foundation to fund research aimed at finding a cure for Parkinson\u2019s Disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of the university\u2019s \u2018usual\u2019 research funders, which review grants for different diseases and do not necessarily have specific knowledge of Parkinson\u2019s Disease research needs and gaps, didn\u2019t recognise the significance that this research might have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"-<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But the Michael J. Fox Foundation did.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>They are specialists in this type of early, riskier funding. They saw the value in an interesting idea,\u201d <\/em>Vangheluwe said. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think what makes the difference is that the Michael J. Fox Foundation has great experience and expertise in a specific area of research and therefore understands where the needs are. They have an overview of what is happening in Parkinson\u2019s Disease research and can identify which gaps need to be addressed. Our research proposal addressed a precise need that they saw and they judged that it had high potential. We caught their attention. Thank goodness.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank goodness, indeed, as what Professor Vangheluwe\u2019s team discovered was that when\u00a0transporter protein\u00a0ATP13A2\u00a0malfunctions, brain\u00a0cells\u00a0start to die. The loss of these vital brain cells is what causes the debilitating symptoms associated with Parkinson\u2019s Disease.\u00a0 Preventing their loss through better functioning of ATP13A2 could therefore be key \u2013 be THE key \u2013 to avoiding, stopping or perhaps even reversing the effects of Parkinson\u2019s Disease<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And support from the US-based charity did not end there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"-<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>While other funders were ready to back further research, experts at the Michael J. Fox Foundation encouraged the team to think bigger and dare to be more ambitious. Together with a significant grant from the Demoucelle Parkinson Charity, it is supporting the team\u2019s translational research to find potential drugs that might work on ATP13A2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to Vangheluwe\u2019s delight, the involvement of these specialist charity funders has made the days of hunting for financial backing seem like a distant memory!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe MJFF funding has been a catalyst, helping to attract other funding,\u201d<\/em> he said. \u201c\u2026because of this money it has been easier for us to convince pharmaceutical companies to further invest in this target.\u00a0 Our research is speeding up and we have now been working on this next stage for the past five months.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond the provision of vital funds, Vangheluwe sees great value in being associated with such a smart, agile and connected specialist funder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey see gaps, take risks, follow-up closely, provide input and guidance and offer access to other researchers, as well as helping with the next steps. You get plugged into a really great network and they help to take you to the next level.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"-<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Indeed, Professor Vangheluwe has been so impressed by The Michael J. Fox Foundation\u2019s support that he would like to see other disease areas benefit from a similar model of expert charity funders with similar depth and breadth of scientific understanding, ability to support projects internationally and an active network to tap into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, he and his team are delighted to be playing a critical role in the hunt for a cure for Parkinson\u2019s Disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is really exciting to be part of this drug discovery process. We are still doing basic research because that is what we are good at, but we are also part of this next stage. That is mainly thanks to the MJFF. They encouraged us to be more ambitious.\u201d<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professor Peter Vangheluwe\u2019s team received support from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for research rejected by other funders. Having subsequently achieved a significant scientific breakthrough, he is convinced that informed charity funders play a vital role in accelerating development of a cure.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1647"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1651,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1647\/revisions\/1651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demoucelle.sites-stag.agency\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}