Media & Research

There's new hope for Parkinson's sufferers in the form of light therapy, with a clinical trial showing an improvement in the symptoms of participants.One of the participants is classically-trained pianist Chen Ong (photographed above). She is back doing what she loves after a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease two years ago. Ms Ong is now keeping the tremours at bay with the help of a [Symbyx PDCare] hand-held laser light.

"SYMBYX is focused on two new frontiers – using innovative laser and light devices to reduce Parkinson’s symptoms – and understanding the role of the gut microbiome in Parkinson’s and other disease models including Alzheimer’s, autism and IBS"... “the Adelaide PBM trial showed the treatment to be side-effect free, low cost and potentially clinically effective, with significant improvements in primary and secondary outcome measures. This is early stage but very promising testing."

Mosman businessman Peter Carre developed a passion for medical technology when his daughter Jamie was badly injured playing representative basketball in 2011.

The teenager fell during a Championship game for Norths, rupturing a ligament in her right hand that forced the power forward out of the Sydney competition.

“It was a terrible injury for a young girl showing great promise in the world of Basketball,” Peter says, “I was heartbroken for my daughter and wanted to do whatever I could to help get Jamie back on the court.”

Sidelined for the rest of the season and frustrated by long bouts of rehabilitation, the young athlete asked her American father to investigate alternative treatments.

“So, I called an old friend who just happened to be Team Doctor for the Orlando Magic,” Peter laughs, “and the rest is history.”

Provisional results, from the first half dozen Adelaide participants to have their gut microbiome analysed before treatment and 12 weeks after treatment began, have been promising. “The six patients that have been put through a similar protocol as the mice showed an increase by up to 20 per cent in the favourable microbiome which is associated with obesity reduction and short chain fatty acid production, and the bacteria associated with rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s disease and insulin resistance were all decreased,” Cardiac Health Institute medical director and Professor of Cardiology at Macquarie University, Hosen Kiat, who oversaw the trial, told me.