SUN CITY, Ariz. (July 1, 2026) – Banner Sun Health Research Institute has been awarded $6 million over three years through a grant awarded by Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP), in partnership with The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF), to support the development of biomarkers to help identify those with Parkinson’s disease.
Banner will join the Collaborative Research Network (CRN), an international, multidisciplinary, multi-institutional network working to address high-priority research questions about the disease. The announcement is part of ASAP's $261 million expansion of the CRN, which now includes 67 teams across 187 institutions in 24 countries. The network brings together leading scientists to tackle critical questions about Parkinson's through team-based collaboration and open science, enabling data sharing and faster progress across the field.
The program, led by Nicholas Ashton, PhD, senior director of Banner's Fluid Biomarker Program, brings together a multidisciplinary team of co-investigator institutions spanning biomarker discovery, antibody development, and assay deployment, including Beckman Coulter Diagnostics, Quanterix, Abcam, and the University of Gothenburg.
“We are so thrilled to be recognized by this global research initiative that supports a collaborative approach to accelerate research and validation of emerging therapeutic targets for Parkinson’s disease and related disorders,” said Dr. Ashton. “This recognition supports our overarching mission to develop and validate fluid-based biomarkers that enable earlier detection of disease and help advance the development of targeted therapies."
“Parkinson's disease is incredibly complex, with wide variation in symptoms, age of onset, and progression between patients,” said Corey Casper, MD, MPH, Banner Health's chief research officer. “This funding enables Banner to contribute our biomarker expertise to a coordinated, global effort tackling the most critical questions about the disease and moving promising discoveries into the treatment pipeline faster.”
Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s is expanding the research network to map the biological blueprint of Parkinson’s disease and build a standardized toolkit of global research resources needed to turn discoveries into treatments. This next phase of the initiative focuses on understanding why Parkinson's varies from person to person — including differences in symptoms, age of onset, and rate of progression — and advancing discoveries toward more precise diagnostics and future therapies. This effort includes developing new resources that allow researchers around the world to work from the same high-quality foundation, removing obstacles that slow down drug development. Over the past five years, the CRN has generated hundreds of research resources, including datasets, code, protocols, and lab materials, which are used by scientists worldwide.
The Fluid Biomarker Program includes two labs that are among the few worldwide where biomarker blood tests and cerebrospinal fluid assays are both developed and engineered for large-scale deployment. Led by Dr. Ashton, who made major contributions to biofluid research at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, the program is developing and validating biological markers in bodily fluids to support early detection of neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and autoimmune disorders. The program spans the full spectrum from biomarker discovery to clinical implementation, serving academic and industry partners worldwide.
About Banner Health
As one of the nation's largest fully integrated nonprofit health systems, we are pioneering a sustainable care model that prioritizes prevention, manages chronic disease, and reduces health spending – succeeding when patients stay healthy, not when they get sick. We operate 33 hospitals and more than 400 sites across six states, delivering seamless care from primary to quaternary medicine, including health insurance, physician networks, world-renowned specialty services, and behavioral health. Accountable to the communities we serve, we reinvest every dollar into advancing care, research, and facilities, providing more than $1 billion each year in community benefit. Through our partnership with the University of Arizona, we drive clinical discoveries across more than 800 trials and train more than 1,300 residents and fellows annually. Headquartered in Arizona, we serve Arizona, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Nevada, and Wyoming. Our hospitals are consistently ranked among Arizona's top-performing by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit bannerhealth.com/about.
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