This 2017 is especially important for patients and families living with the disease every day, and for professionals who work every day to cope with it for two reasons. On one hand, we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first report by the British Dr. James Parkinson in which he thoroughly explained the disease that would later bear his name. On the other hand, it has been 50 years since Levodopa was discovered, the metabolic precursor of dopamine, which is still currently the most effective medicine available to neurologists for the treatment of Parkinson, despite the side effects it causes.Parkinson's disease (PS) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease - second only to Alzheimer's disease - which affects the central nervous system in chronic and disabling manner. Specifically occurs because of the death of, among others, the dopaminergic neurons which are responsible for producing dopamine, a neurotransmitter important for motor function. Despite the enormous progress made in recent years to understand and manage the disease clinically, the causes and mechanisms involved in neurodegeneration are still unknown. The origin of the disease is genetic in only 5% to 10% of patients, for the rest, the trigger is unknown and ends up being attributed to an unknown combinations of genetic and environmental factors. It is associated with the elderly because 70% of patients are over 65 years. These unknowns surrounding the origin of the PS hinder the development of treatments capable of curing the disease, although there are therapies and treatments aimed to alleviate the symptoms and improve the quality of life of the people suffering from this disease.Research into Parkinson at VHIR: causes and mechanisms involved in neuronal degenerationIn order to determine the causes and mechanisms involved in neuronal degeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD), the laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases directed by Dr. Miquel Vila uses experimental models in vitro and in vivo, in order to identify potential new targets for therapeutic intervention, to develop new therapeutic strategies with potential modifier of the disease and identify molecular pathways common to other neurodegenerative diseases.Specifically, the research group's current focus is on the routes related to the adaptive immune response, mitochondrial function, the self-phage function and degradation of proteins, with special emphasis on the alpha-synuclein protein.Research into Parkinson at VHIR: biomarkers for early detectionThe most common clinical manifestations of PD are walking and performing voluntary movements difficulties, but this disease is much more than that. A patient with PD may develop, between 5 and 10 years before the onset of motor symptoms, other symptoms not related to motor function including loss of smell, sleep disturbances, constipation, urinary disorders, sexual dysfunction, depression, memory problems, etc. It is very important to detect the disease in time, because there is an initial period in which the response to drug treatment, both to control motor symptoms and for no motor ones, it is good and improves the quality of life of patients for several years and thus change the course of the disease. In addition, the PD does not affect everyone the same way and not all patients respond the same way to treatment, highlighting the need to develop a treatment and personalized care for each patient.In this sense, the laboratory of Neurodegenerative Diseases also uses samples derived from patients with PD, both biological samples (blood, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, excrement, etc.) and post-mortem tissue samples in order to identify biomarkers for diagnosis, early detection and stratification of patients, identify biomarkers for monitoring the disease's progression and response to treatment. These tools allow in the near future to provide the much needed personal attention.We hope that our efforts and that of thousands of researchers worldwide, along with the strength of patients and their families, and with the help of a committed society, allow us to successfully fight this serious disease.