Michael Parker

Alzheimer’s disease is characterised by the reduction of cognitive functions such as language, loss of memory and perception of reality. It is estimated that approximately 430,000 Australians are living with dementia, which costs the healthcare system an estimated $15 billion dollars annually. These figures are projected to increase drastically over the coming years. 

The predominant strategy to treat Alzheimer’s disease has focused on removal of toxic amyloid-beta plaques in the brain. Over the past 30 years, pharmaceutical companies have poured billions of dollars into treatments that clear the brain of these plaques, in the hope that it would stop the damage that is driving memory loss. Despite this, no drugs have succeeded in stopping or reversing dementia. Failed drug trials have highlighted two key issues: poor blood brain barrier penetration and harmful inflammation. The few Alzheimer’s disease treatments that have been approved only ease symptoms rather than altering the course of the disease. 

Professor Michael Parker created two versions of a new potential treatment that directs toxic proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease, including amyloid-beta plaques, to the brain’s immune cells to be destroyed. The first version caused harmful inflammation, so was not suitable for further testing. However, the second version did not cause inflammation and shows promising results for further refinement. If successful, this alternative way of clearing toxic proteins will lead to critical pre-clinical data for the development of a new Alzheimer’s treatment.

At the time of this award, Professor Michael Parker was Head of Structural Biology at St. Vincent's Institute of Medical Research, a National Health and Medical Research Council Investigator Fellow of the Department of Biochemistry and Pharmacology, The University of Melbourne, and Director of the Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne.