Overview

• Published on July 15 in the Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, the trial showed dogs identified Parkinson’s samples with up to 80% sensitivity and 98% specificity.
• Two dogs—Bumper, a golden retriever, and Peanut, a black Labrador—successfully completed training out of ten candidates after exposure to more than 200 skin swab samples.
• The study confirmed a distinct sebum-based olfactory signature linked to Parkinson’s and was conducted by the University of Bristol with Medical Detection Dogs and the University of Manchester.
• Researchers are refining swab collection and canine training protocols to address variability and are planning larger multicenter validation studies.
• Funded by the Michael J. Fox Foundation and Parkinson’s UK, this work seeks to establish a non-invasive early screening method for a disease that currently lacks pre-diagnostic tests.