That’s according to the University of Bedfordshire’s expert Dr Bushra Ahmed, who will host a public seminar next week.

Last year Dr Ahmed, Principal Lecturer in Biochemistry, lead cutting-edge research that lead to scientists being “one step closer” to curing Parkinson’s – a disorder which causes uncontrollable shaking, slowness of movement and poor cognitive development.

Her team at Bedfordshire’s Department of Life Sciences discovered a way to identify elements inside just one single brain cell are responsible for the development of the disease.

They identified that Parkinson’s sufferers’ brain cells (neurons) are dying because the neurons in the brain’s movement-control region cannot detoxify the harmful substances produced during metabolic reactions in a diseased state.

On Wednesday 21 May a seminar – entitled ‘Developing a Human Cell Model of Parkinson’s Disease’ – which is open to the public, will demonstrate the progression of the research done at Bedfordshire since the release of that research.

The team believe it is currently closer than ever before to understanding the specific problem in human brain cells which causes the disease to develop, but further work is still required. 

And neuroscientist Dr Ahmed said: “Parkinson’s Disease is due to the loss of dopamine <a chemical messenger/ the ‘happy hormone’> containing neurons.

“Low levels of dopamine production, and a deficiency of dopamine in the region of the brain which controls movement and balance, leads to Parkinson’s.”

She added: “However, one of the weaknesses of the existing approaches in Parkinson’s Disease research is the lack of a relevant human model. Although Parkinson’s is a disease only found in humans, the lack of relevant human models has led the scientific community to use animal models and different cell models which unfortunately have some limitations.

“Therefore, there is an urgent need to create a human-related model and find the mechanism of the development of Parkinson’s Disease in a single dopamine-containing neuron, which will be essential to reveal the mechanism(s) of cell death.”

To attend the free seminar, which runs from 3pm until 4pm, book your free ticket at www.eventbrite.co.uk