We show how the normal function of the gene keeps dopamine cells from dying. If the gene is abnormal, these protective mechanisms cannot be brought into play.

If we can find drugs that increase activity of the DJ-1 gene, we may be able to stop the relentless progression of Parkinson's disease even in patients who don't have mutations in the gene. Stopping a disease in its earliest stages would be a tremendous breakthrough.

I am very abnormal... But it wasn't very long ago that I wasn't so abnormal. I was very normal and headed for a lifetime of paying medical bills as proof of my normalcy.

If we can find drugs that increase activity of the DJ-1 gene, we may be able to stop the relentless progression of Parkinson's disease even in patients who don't have mutations in the gene. Stopping a disease in its earliest stages would be a tremendous breakthrough.

My brain cells are dying in their trillions.

It's a normal germ that gets into an abnormal place,