Lunai and BrainStorm Will Use Patient Data to Identify Parkinson’s Disease Subtypes and Test Hypotheses in Organoids

Lunai and BrainStorm Will Use Patient Data to Identify Parkinson’s Disease Subtypes and Test Hypotheses in Organoids

On August 4, Lunai Bioworks and BrainStorm Therapeutics signed an agreement to study Parkinson’s disease. BioSymetrics, a Lunai subsidiary, will analyze patient data to identify biologically distinct groups. BrainStorm will then test the associated hypotheses in midbrain organoids grown from patient cells. The companies plan to report their first joint results in the first half of 2027.

Parkinson’s disease progresses differently among individuals. Some people experience faster changes in movement, while others develop earlier impairment of memory and other cognitive functions. The companies aim to determine whether different patterns of disease progression correspond to different biological features in patients. Establishing such a relationship could help researchers select measurable indicators of disease and define the design of future clinical trials.

BioSymetrics will examine these relationships using data from PPMI, an international, multiyear study of Parkinson’s disease. More than 50 thousand volunteers provide data online, while over five thousand participants undergo clinical assessments and provide biological samples at medical centers. In its white paper, the company compares patients’ baseline data, subsequent disease progression, and proteomic profiles, meaning the set of proteins present in their samples. This analysis divides a broad diagnosis into groups of people who share similar patterns of disease progression and biological features.

BrainStorm will test these hypotheses in midbrain organoids, which are three-dimensional cell cultures. These organoids contain dopaminergic neurons, the cells that are particularly vulnerable in Parkinson’s disease. The companies will use PPMI data to identify associations between disease progression and biological features. They will then use organoids derived from cells of patients with inherited forms of Parkinson’s disease to test a proposed disease mechanism or drug target. Patient data provide the hypothesis, and an organoid derived from a patient’s cells allows researchers to test it in a human cellular model.

The companies intend to use the results to select biomarkers, define the design of future clinical trials, and guide drug development.