One Hour Telephone Interview with Parkinson’s Specialist Dr. Samanta

Our intended 15 minute interview turned into over an hour interview with a wonderful doctor named Dr. Samanta. We put the doctor on speaker phone and our entire team sat around the table asking Dr. Samanta questions, talking with him and sharing our solution ideas.

Question:
What research have you been involved in that you can share with us?
Response:
Dr. Samanta shared that he has been involved in numerous studies. Many have involved the study of new drugs for Parkinson’s to help reduce symptoms. They work with drug companies to prove if the drugs are working and if they are safe. He helps recruit patients for the studies and monitors how the new drugs are working. There are 3 phases of clinical trials and the drugs most get FDA approval, so it is a process that takes a while. First they study with animals in labs and then on humans.
He also shared that they do lots of studies with graduate students as ASU. Right now they are doing a study looking at alpine poles used for hiking, and studying the use of them for walking by patients with PD. They are studying this to find out if these oles can help them with walking, if it will improve their function, balance, etc.
Dr. Samanta is also involved in part of a group that participates in a big brain bank. When somebody dies who has Parkinson’s and they donate their brain to the brain bank. Researchers study the brain very closely under miscroscope to learn all they can and to make correlations, etc. They look at the brain and the symptoms they had when alive, to make connections and learn about the disease. It helps them put things together and everyone involve brings all the information and puts it together, so they all can learn.

Question:
Why do you think it is so hard to find the cause and cure for Parkinson’s? What challenges are researchers faced with when trying to understand this disease?
Response:
PD is a really slow condition that progresses slowly. The disease is active long before we know people have it. It is really hard to connect the dots because of how sneaky PD is. Trying to figure out if it is from pesticides, herbicides, etc., is tough when the people were exposed 15-30 years ago and we have no real information and history of even which types of chemicals they were exposed to. There are environmental and genetic factors that play into it.
During our conversation the possibility came up that they are thinking that some people might not have as good of a ‘clean up system’ as others have, which might result in extra collection and deposits of protein they are finding on the brains of people who have passed away that they are researching. They are also thinking that stress contributes in some way and might interfere with the process of discarding build-up, etc.

Question:
What do you think the future solutions might include?
Response:
Stem cells are an exciting area. If we can replace cells with new ones we might be able to find a solution. Also, gene therapy may provide a hopeful solution. This is when you take a virus, kill it and have the shell and a little DNA that can make more of itself. Then you replace with DNA that makes neurotransmitter or growth factor. There have been a few small studies done on people with Parkinson’s., but only 10 people in the entire world have had it done. This research is currently in phase 1 of a pilot study/clinical trials. We have much research to do, as we don’t know if it can work for everyone, who it won’t work for, if not..why, etc.

Question:
How are Parkinson’s & PSP similar? How are they different?
Response:
PSP is really rare. It looks like Parkinson’s and they are similar in some ways, but with PSP you don’t have tremors, but they do have worse balance. Also, medications don’t work as well with PSP and they don’t get better with Parkinson’s medicine.
Dr. Samanta shared with Cori and all the kids that it is important for her to know that people with PSP are really in there. They know what’s going on and they are very sharp inside their mind. It is just their body that is going, but there mind is very intact. He thought it was important Cori know that about her grandpa and how important her interactions are with him.

Question:
What treatments do you feel are most effective now? What is your experience with deep brain stimulation?
Response:
The most effective and oldest treatment today is Leva-Dopa. This medication has an amino acid that brain cells can use and turn into dopamine. There are also lots of other drugs used that the brain responds to as if it were dopamine.
We were one of the first centers to start doing deep brain stimulation. Deep brain stimulation is like a pace maker for the brain. Electrodes are placed in circuit point and run currents through there.

Question:
Have robotics played any part in research aimed at discovering the cause or cure for Parkinson’s?
Response:
Dr. Samanta paused a bit here and said hmmmm. Robotics…well I don’t think they have ever been applied in any way yet with a possible cure. However, a lot of research equipment that is used to look for a cure involves robotics. This type of research requires precise measurements to study different levels of enzymes, proteins,etc. The precision of robotics is valuable for such studies. Another area that might come into play is auto ambulators. These are like robotic legs. They can work partly off the persons own muscle responses. There is the ability to possibly help train the brain and body to take bigger steps, help with balance, etc. Right now a big area that needs addressing is balance, especially with something like PSP where balance is especially an issue.

Question:
Do you have any thoughts about future bio-medical applications of robotics in the research or treatment of PD or PSP?
Response:
There is a lot of research looking into developing robotic applications to help with brain surgery. Robotic applications offer super precision. This ability to be super precise, will help us find very specific targets in the brain and help us be in the exact place we want to be in or put something in. It will also reduce mistakes, errors and complications. Dr. Samanta agreed that in future years we will see a lot more use of robotics in the research and treatment of Parkinson’s. He expressed that we are getting into an era where nanobots technology is growing.
We had the opportunity to share our solution ideas with Dr. Samanta and he really liked them. He was impressed with our ideas and agreed that they could actually be very useful in the future treatment of Parkinson’s. We had no idea just how realistic our solutions actually were. He added his ideas about how useful our nanobot idea could be also in the area of implanting stem cells because the nanobots could have the important job of making sure the cells weren’t growing too fast or not growing in a bad way. Like our team has talked about in the past, he shared that nanobots would offer the advantage of being able to deliver very specialized medicine.
We ended our conversation by expressing our appreciation to Dr. Samanta for all the time he gave us and all he shared with us. Dr. Samanta ended the conversation by wishing us luck on our project and he requested that we let him know how it goes.