Dr. Brian Daniels has received a $75,000 grant from the American Parkinson's Disease Association to study roles for programmed cell death signaling in astrocytes during Parkinson's Disease (PD). The Daniels lab will use several new genetic systems to selectively manipulate cell death signaling in astrocytes, both in cell culture systems and in a mouse model of PD. These studies aim to identify molecular mechanisms that promote harmful astrocyte activation in PD, with the ultimate goal of informing future development of therapies targeting this process.