Author: Rebecca Zhangqiuzi Fan, Post-doctoral Research Associate in Environmental Health Sciences, Florida International University

In 1817, a British physician named James Parkinson published An Essay on the Shaking Palsy, describing for the first time cases of a neurodegenerative disorder now known as Parkinson’s disease. Today, Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the U.S. It affects about 1 million Americans and more than 10 million people worldwide. The signature shaking in patients with the disease is the result of dying brain cells that control movement. To date, there are no treatments available that can stop or slow down the death of those cells. We are researchers who study Parkinson’s disease. For…