Project Grant R15NS151714

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a component of the Department of Health and Human Services National Institutes of Health, awarded Midwestern University $553,721 on September 1, 2026, under the Extramural Research Programs in the Neurosciences and Neurological Disorders program (CFDA 93.853) to evaluate the efficacy and mechanisms of a novel manganese porphyrin compound in a Drosophila model of Parkinson's disease.

The research measures brain levels of oxidized and reduced low-molecular-weight antioxidants in parkin-null fruit flies to identify oxidative stress sources and assess whether the manganese porphyrin compound MNBUOE reduces hydrogen peroxide and improves behavioral deficits in degenerating dopaminergic neurons. Parkin mutations cause a rare form of Parkinson's disease that shares pathophysiology with the idiopathic form; the Drosophila model carries a conserved parkin gene loss and possesses a dopaminergic brain region functionally homologous to the mammalian substantia nigra. The research addresses fundamental mechanisms of neurodegeneration relevant to Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and other dementias. The compound MNBUOE is also undergoing clinical trials as a normal tissue radioprotector in cancer patients receiving radiotherapy.

Performance of the work occurs in Glendale, Arizona, with a period of performance from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2029. The award is classified as a Project Grant, a standard assistance type under the NINDS extramural research portfolio.