This scholarship, offered by the Institute of Neurological Specialties (IENSA), is the most important private scholarship awarded in Spain in the field of neuroscience.

Dr. Javier J. González Rosa, from the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation in Cádiz INiBICA), has been awarded the 2022 Dr. Albert Scholarship to conduct research into the potential use of brain biomarkers to demonstrate the effectiveness of new treatments for the motor symptoms of Parkinson's patients. Organized by the Institute of Neurological Specialties (IENSA), this grant is the most important private grant awarded in Spain in the field of neuroscience.

The project was selected by a jury of specialists from IENSA from among a dozen entries and is Title multimodal biomarkers of neurodegeneration and neuroplasticity in patients with Parkinson's disease treated with intermittent theta-burst stimulation: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study."

The scholarship, which will be awarded in mid-May in Seville, comes with a prize of €7,500 and aims to recognize and promote clinical research in any area of neuroscience. The scholarship recipient will be able to carry out their study at IENSA, which will conclude with the presentation of results and submission to a specialized publication.

Javier J. González Rosa, PhD in Psychology from the University of Seville, has been a Ramón y Cajal researcher and is currently a professor at the University of Cádiz. Specializing in cognitive and clinical neuroscience, he is also head of the Psychophysiology and Neuroimaging research group at the Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation of Cádiz INiBICA).

Among Dr. González Rosa's main lines of work and interest are human brain stimulation using invasive techniques (deep brain stimulation-DBS) and non-invasive techniques (transcranial magnetic stimulation-TMS), as well as the use of advanced brain mapping methods (intracranial LFP, EEG, and fMRI recordings) and the analysis of structural brain neuroimaging in neurological patients, particularly those with Parkinson's disease or multiple sclerosis.

Parkinson's disease—the second most common neurodegenerative disorder worldwide—is mainly characterized by the presence of disabling motor symptoms, which can be addressed with drug therapies and other treatments, such as deep brain stimulation, although not all patients respond optimally to these treatments or are eligible for them.

Treatment of motor symptoms:

Dr. Javier J. González Rosa states in his research that "a treatment with the potential to improve the motor symptoms of the disease is intertemporal theta-burst stimulation (iTBS), a form of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), which allows cortical excitability to be modulated and whose therapeutic effects persist beyond the stimulation session itself."

Thus, he argues that this approach has been shown to improve motor symptoms, although "little is known about the brain mechanisms responsible for both these clinical benefits and the maintenance of pathological symptoms." In this regard, he explains that "although recent research has attempted to find structural or functional brain biomarkers to help understand them, there is considerable disagreement about their true role."

Search for biomarkers:

The study, funded by IENSA, will evaluate and treat a total of 20 patients with Parkinson's disease. It aims to address this issue "by combining biomarkers obtained from blood samples with neuroimaging techniques to obtain a profile of brain damage integrity, both at the micro and macrostructural levels, as well as a pattern of excitability and functional brain connectivity," according to Javier J. González Rosa.

According to the researcher, this work will help "understand the brain mechanisms involved in the clinical improvement of Parkinson's patients treated with rTMS and their relationship to promoting neuroprotection patterns," with the ultimate goal, he adds, "of improving the quality of care" for patients through the routine use of this therapy.

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