The Jeffrey Young Research Programme - A research initiative to investigate Progressive Supranuclear Palsy

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a devastating, progressive and incurable neurodegenerative condition. The cause of PSP is unknown. It is uncommon, but not a rare condition, with estimates of 4-6 people being affected per 100,000. This prevalence is broadly similar to motor neuron disease. The average age of onset is 65 years. Typically people with PSP lose their independence within 2-3 years and die approximately 6-8 years after the diagnosis. Currently there are no disease slowing treatments available.

PSP can present with a range of symptoms. These include problems with balance, falls, swallowing and speaking as well as general slowness of movement. It is often mistaken for Parkinson's. In addition, people with PSP often have problems with their eyesight and focussing, as well as changes in their memory and behaviour. 

This new research project, kindly established by a generous donation by a family who experienced PSP, is a 3 year programme which aims to set up a platform which will seek out new treatments and prioritise these for clinical trials.

The research programme

Named in memory of Jeffrey Young who had PSP, this laboratory based research project will use human/patient stem cell technologies combined with recent genetic discoveries and gene-editing methods, opening up a new era of drug discovery. Using methods already established in our laboratories in Edinburgh, the researchers can generate unlimited numbers of brain cells and neuronal cells from any person - healthy volunteer or a person with PSP. This opens up unprecedented opportunities to study human disease. It is hoped that this will enable researchers to model pivotal aspects of human PSP 'in a dish'. Combining this 'discovery' with in-house, industry-standard, cell production, automated screening of chemical libraries (including approved drugs), and analytical innovation, the aim is for this to be scaled into a human drug screening and discovery platform for PSP.  It is hoped that this platform will lead to a better understanding of the biological and genetic processes of PSP and ultimately, the discovery of new treatments which will slow, stop or even reverse the devastating symptoms of PSP. 

What do I need to do?

The initial phase of this research project is purely laboratory based, so there is no need to do anything at the moment. In time we hope to open up a register for people with PSP that may be interested in donating to a bespoke PSP biobank for research purposes.  

Find out more about our laboratory based research

You can find out about the different types of laboratory and data research on the links below.

Stem cell research  Stem cells

Drug screening  Drug screening

Data research  Data research

This is a laboratory based research project.