Gloria Meredith, the Binghamton University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science founding dean and distinguished professor of pharmaceutical sciences, shed light on her research into Parkinson’s disease at an event on Monday.

On Nov. 1, the Student Association Programming Board (SAPB) presented Meredith as a keynote speaker as a part of the Student Association (SA) Spotlight series, which features faculty across various disciplines. Meredith shared insights into Parkinson’s disease through preclinical research. Parkinson’s, a disease that affects voluntary movement, is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease, according to Meredith.

Meredith has focused a majority of her research in pharmacy on Parkinson’s disease and how it works. She has also spent a large amount of time in labs, conducting safe experiments with mice to discover how their brains react when exposed to Parkinson’s. Her hope is to find possible ways to cure it or at least slow its development.

The talk started with Meredith giving some background to the disease, which was discovered by apothecary surgeon James Parkinson in 1817.

“Parkinson was very observant,” Meredith said. “He observed [Parkinson’s] patients and people who had Parkinson’s disease when he would take his daily walks. Then he would go home and write down in detail his description of these patients. This description of Parkinson’s patients or what these people looked like is the same description we use today.”

When faced with the issue of what might cause Parkinson’s disease, she described it as something that is still unknown or “idiopathic.” However, according to Meredith, one of the biggest speculations around Parkinson’s disease is that exposure to toxins such as pesticides or herbicides might be a factor in the development of the disease. She mentions there is still much work to be done to prove it, and it is still unknown as to what exact factor causes the disease, especially because it is not hereditary.

Meredith also discussed the two types of the disease, which are described as either bradykinesia or akinesia. Bradykinesia is characterized by slow or limited movement and akinesia by the inability to move at all. She listed some of the effects of having Parkinson’s as frequent tremors, rigidity or postural instability. The inflammation, neurons and cells degenerating as well as the ridding of dopamine in the brain are all things that can end up causing the long-term effects of Parkinson’s.

“The inflammation is part of the death cycle for these neurons,” Meredith said. “It’s a question of putting it all together. But also, it’s a question of if we know all this now, what can we do to try and stop this disease or save these neurons?”

With the focus of her research being on how to treat or cure Parkinson’s disease, Meredith spoke about what is already being done in the world of medicine to help these patients. As progress continues to be made, certain drugs have proven to be somewhat helpful, but can also be equally as harmful to an individual. One drug she mentioned, in particular, was levodopa, which she called “the precursor of dopamine and the gold standard for treating Parkinson’s disease.”

“We treat Parkinson’s disease with levodopa,” Meredith said. “That’s one of the reasons people can live a very long time with Parkinson’s — but it is not a fun drug.”

She spoke about the harsh side effects that can come with this drug, such as sleeping difficulties, anxious feelings or vomiting. She also emphasized how important it is for patients taking this drug to exercise — which can also help trigger the release of dopamine.

Meredith continued by explaining what has been done in her lab with her team, including experiments in which they inject a specific drug into mice and observe them for Parkinson’s-like behavior. They measured these symptoms and found that close to 70 percent of dopamine neurons had degenerated in many of the mice.

“We gave MPTP or saline pellets to these groups of mice,” Meredith said. “We measured their behavior before, and then afterward. This is a type of behavioral test. We put the mice on a little grid, turned the grid upside down and they are trying to get off of the grid. If they had been treated with a toxin, MPTP, they miss steps, and they fall off of the grids onto a nice cushion we had for them.”

Meredith concluded with a statement on her team’s research toward curing Parkinson’s disease.

“We must find a way to rescue the neurons if we are ever gonna find a way to cure Parkinson’s disease,’” Meredith said. “If we can use a way to block calcium channels and reduce pacemaking we may be able to rescue neurons even if they are already sick from pesticides.”

She also stated that age is a risk factor because statistics show that this disease is most common in individuals aged 60 or above. Even still, Meredith noted that more than 6 million people have Parkinson’s and that number is on track to double by 2040, a statistic that can possibly be attributed to pesticide exposure.

Gabby Lipkin, a freshman double-majoring in cinema and English, commented on what they felt was a lack of student interest in SA Spotlight events.

“I definitely think events like this are important because it is bringing awareness to a disease that isn’t talked about enough,” Lipkin said. “I feel that sadly a lot of people don’t go to these events not because they don’t want to, but because we aren’t made as aware about it happening as we are with other [SA] events such as concerts or Fall Fest.”

Katie Dullaghan, the insights chair of the SAPB, planner of this event and a sophomore majoring in integrative neuroscience, thanked Meredith for speaking.

“We chose Professor Meredith to speak because she is so accomplished in her career and research and has a lot of knowledge and experience to share with students,” Dullaghan said. “It was an honor to have such a passionate professor speak and we hoped that everyone in attendance would learn more about and gain an appreciation for Dr. Meredith’s research.”