Michael J. Fox Foundation awards 9 grants

"$2.4 million has been awarded to nine research teams to validate nine promising therapeutic targets in Parkinson's disease. To attract an industry sponsor with the resources and expertise to chaperone any new therapeutic requires a critical mass of evidence. This award could help any one of the nine teams bring a target to the point where optimization, preclinical work and ultimately clinical testing, will be viable. Projects funded in this cohort of Target Validation awardees fall into three categories: targets for therapies to alleviate symptoms of PD; approaches focused on dyskinesias, the excessive, uncontrollable movements brought on by long-term dopamine replacement therapy; and targets with potential to slow or stop progression of Parkinson's." From The Alchemist, July 23

Here's an item from 2007 on the circumstances of his illness, his first book, and his second, which was supposed to be out by now, but I haven't seen it. It also includes an inaccurate reference to the dust up over his 2006 campaign ads--I was listening to Rush Limbaugh that day, and know he didn't say what he was accused of by liberals--rarely are they accurate in their interpretation. The media watch dogs, always looking for an opportunity to bash talk radio, really rose to the occasion making a molehill into a volcano. The real moral issue, killing embryos for stem cell research, the left never wants to address. But Fox's viewpoint that he is "lucky" is inspiring to read. I really enjoyed his first book. Monday night at Lakeside we'll be seeing "Back to the Future," one of my all-time favorites.