Posted: 21 July 2025
The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) formed a new partnership with the Parkinson’s Research Foundation in a move aimed at accelerating the development of treatments for Parkinson’s disease.
Announced in July 2025, the collaboration marked a major milestone for WEHI’s recently launched Drug Discovery Centre for Neurological Diseases. The partnership, backed by support from the Parkinson’s Research Foundation, will enable WEHI scientists to rapidly progress early-stage discoveries into potential therapies, focusing on targets involved in the development and progression of Parkinson’s.
“This partnership represents a significant step forward in our ability to translate foundational research into treatments that could make a real difference to people living with Parkinson’s,” said Associate Professor Grant Dewson, co-lead of the initiative and joint head of WEHI’s Ubiquitin Signalling Division.
The Drug Discovery Centre for Neurological Diseases, supported through venture philanthropy, is designed to provide Australian researchers with the resources to move discoveries from the lab toward clinical development. With this new collaboration, WEHI scientists will identify and evaluate drug candidates with the potential to address key mechanisms contributing to Parkinson’s.
Dr Stefanie Reichelt, Head of Research Strategy and Partnerships at WEHI, highlighted the importance of the new centre’s approach: “Our Drug Discovery Centre for Neurological Diseases aims to transform how early-stage discoveries are translated. We are proud to be working with the Parkinson’s Research Foundation to accelerate this mission.”
The partnership reinforces WEHI’s commitment to developing new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and provides a platform for advancing collaborative research focused on Parkinson’s disease biology.
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