Waterloo Pharmacy PhD student receives graduate student scholarship from Parkinson Society Southwestern Ontario
The Parkinson Society of Southwestern (PSSO) Ontario honoured Yusheng Zhao, PhD student from Waterloo Pharmacy, with a graduate scholarship for his research related to Parkinson’s disease (PD). He is the first Waterloo Pharmacy student to win this award.
PD is a debilitating brain disorder that affects more than 100,000 Canadians, specifically the elderly population. Those affected by PD experience muscle stiffness that lead to impaired balance, difficulty in walking and talking, along with behavioural and personality changes. Current treatments and medications for PD can provide only symptomatic relief but no cure has been found yet.
Zhao’s research involves discovering innovative small molecules as potential molecular tools and drug candidates through medicinal chemistry-based study.
Zhao and Dr. Nekkar Rao at the Walk for Parkinson’s event
Our research in the past decade led to the discovery of several novel molecules that are able to reduce the toxic effects of protein aggregates in Alzheimer’s. Yusheng’s work in the field is helping us close the knowledge gap to better understand the disease mechanisms of Alzheimer’s and PD.
Read more on Waterloo News.