Work packages:

WP1: CNVs associated with PD
  • To find CNVs and other genetic markers associated with PD in a discovery sample of PD patients and a control sample
  • Replication of findings in a larger sample
WP2: Idiopathic PD patients with specific CNVs and other genetic markers
  • Application of cutting-edge neuroimaging techniques and non-motor battery to study idiopathic PD patients with CNVs and other genetic markers conferring risk of PD in Tübingen.
  • Transfer of neuroimaging/clinical knowledge to Iceland and replication of studies in Iceland.
  • Identification of clinico-genetic subgroups of idiopathic PD by correlation of PD patients with specific genetic markers and neuroimaging/non-motor markers.
WP3: PD: healthy at risk groups
  • To investigate extrapyramidally healthy first degree relatives of PD patients for PD specific CNVs and other genetic markers. First degree relatives will be tested by neuroimaging and with the non-motor test battery to identify subjects at real risk for PD and in the long run estimate progression to clinical PD.
  • To look for CNVs and other genetic markers associated with PD in healthy subjects older than 50 who have been screened for pre-motor markers.
WP4: Essential tremor
  • To compare and validate CNV findings in samples from Iceland and Germany
  • Application of EMG recording and novel neuroimaging techniques to ET patients/families in Tübingen.
  • Transfer of neuroimaging knowledge to Iceland and replication of studies in Icelandic ET families.