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New research from the University of Sydney has uncovered a key brain protein involved in the development of Parkinson’s disease, and identified a way to modify it, offering hope for future treatments.

Led by Professor Kay Double at the Brain and Mind Centre, the team has spent over a decade investigating the biological mechanisms that drive Parkinson’s. The condition affects more than 10 million people worldwide and is the second most common neurological disorder after dementia.

From discovery to breakthrough

In 2017, Professor Double’s team published a study identifying the abnormal presence of a protein called SOD1 in the brains of people with Parkinson’s. While SOD1 normally serves a protective function in the brain, in Parkinson’s patients it becomes faulty, clumping together and damaging neurons.

Building on this, the latest study, published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications, has shown that targeting this malfunctioning protein can dramatically improve motor function in animal models.

“All the mice we treated saw a dramatic improvement in their motor skills which is a really promising sign it could be effective in treating people who have Parkinson disease too,” said Professor Double. “We hoped that by treating this malfunctioning protein, we might be able to improve the Parkinson-like symptoms in the mice we were treating – but even we were astonished by the success of the intervention.”

Treating the protein with copper

The study involved two groups of mice bred to show Parkinson’s-like symptoms. One group was treated for three months with a special copper supplement, while the other received a placebo.

The results showed that mice in the placebo group continued to experience worsening motor symptoms. However, the mice treated with the copper supplement were protected from these effects and retained normal movement.

“The results were beyond our expectations and suggest, once further studies are carried out, this treatment approach could slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease in humans,” Professor Double said.

Understanding Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s disease occurs when dopamine-producing cells in the brain die off, resulting in tremors, stiffness, slow movements and poor balance. While the exact causes remain unclear, this research strengthens the case that the faulty SOD1 protein is a key player in its progression.

“As our understanding of Parkinson’s disease grows, we are finding that there are many factors contributing to its development and progression in humans – and faulty forms of the SOD1 protein is likely one of them,” said Professor Double.

Toward multi-faceted treatments

The findings also point to the need for combination therapies, echoing lessons from other complex diseases.

“Just as researchers found with HIV, Parkinson’s disease is a complex condition that likely requires multiple interventions. A single treatment may have a small effect when used alone but, when combined with other interventions, contributes to a significant overall improvement in health,” Professor Double added.

What’s next?

The team’s next goal is to determine how best to target the faulty SOD1 protein in human clinical trials. If successful, it could be the beginning of a new class of treatments aimed at slowing – or even halting – the progression of Parkinson’s disease.

Many modern devices – from cellphones and computers to electric vehicles and wind turbines – rely on strong magnets made from a type of minerals called rare earths. As the systems and infrastructure used in daily life have turned digital and the United States has moved toward renewable energy, accessing these minerals has become critical – and the markets for these elements have grown rapidly.

Modern society now uses rare earth magnets in everything from national defense, where magnet-based systems are integral to missile guidance and aircraft, to the clean energy transition, which depends on wind turbines and electric vehicles.

The rapid growth of the rare earth metal trade and its effects on society isn’t the only case study of its kind. Throughout history, materials have quietly shaped the trajectory of human civilization. They form the tools people use, the buildings they inhabit, the devices that mediate their relationships and the systems that structure economies. Newly discovered materials can set off ripple effects that shape industries, shift geopolitical balances and transform people’s daily habits.

Materials science is the study of the atomic structure, properties, processing and performance of materials. In many ways, materials science is a discipline of immense social consequence.

As a materials scientist, I’m interested in what can happen when new materials become available. Glass, steel and rare earth magnets are all examples of how innovation in materials science has driven technological change and, as a result, shaped global economies, politics and the environment.

Glass lenses and the scientific revolution

In the early 13th century, after the sacking of Constantinople, some excellent Byzantine glassmakers left their homes to settle in Venice – at the time a powerful economic and political center. The local nobility welcomed the glassmakers’ beautiful wares. However, to prevent the glass furnaces from causing fires, the nobles exiled the glassmakers – under penalty of death – to the island of Murano.

Murano became a center for glass craftsmanship. In the 15th century, the glassmaker Angelo Barovier experimented with adding the ash from burned plants, which contained a chemical substance called potash, to the glass.

The potash reduced the melting temperature and made liquid glass more fluid. It also eliminated bubbles in the glass and improved optical clarity. This transparent glass was later used in magnifying lenses and spectacles.

Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press, completed in 1455, made reading more accessible to people across Europe. With it came a need for reading glasses, which grew popular among scholars, merchants and clergy – enough that spectacle-making became an established profession.

By the early 17th century, glass lenses evolved into compound optical devices. Galileo Galilei pointed a telescope toward celestial bodies, while Antonie van Leeuwenhoek discovered microbial life with a microscope.

Lens-based instruments have been transformative. Telescopes have redefined long-standing cosmological views. Microscopes have opened entirely new fields in biology and medicine.

These changes marked the dawn of empirical science, where observation and measurement drove the creation of knowledge. Today, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory continue those early telescopes’ legacies of knowledge creation.

Steel and empires

In the late 18th and 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution created demand for stronger, more reliable materials for machines, railroads, ships and infrastructure. The material that emerged was steel, which is strong, durable and cheap. Steel is a mixture of mostly iron, with small amounts of carbon and other elements added.

Countries with large-scale steel manufacturing once had outsized economic and political power and influence over geopolitical decisions. For example, the British Parliament intended to prevent the colonies from exporting finished steel with the iron act of 1750. They wanted the colonies’ raw iron as supply for their steel industry in England.

Benjamin Huntsman invented a smelting process using 3-foot tall ceramic vessels, called crucibles, in 18th-century Sheffield. Huntsman’s crucible process produced higher-quality steel for tools and weapons.

One hundred years later, Henry Bessemer developed the oxygen-blowing steelmaking process, which drastically increased production speed and lowered costs. In the United States, figures such as Andrew Carnegie created a vast industry based on Bessemer’s process.

The widespread availability of steel transformed how societies built, traveled and defended themselves. Skyscrapers and transit systems made of steel allowed cities to grow, steel-built battleships and tanks empowered militaries, and cars containing steel became staples in consumer life.

Control over steel resources and infrastructure made steel a foundation of national power. China’s 21st-century rise to steel dominance is a continuation of this pattern. From 1995 to 2015, China’s contribution to the world steel production increased from about 10% to more than 50%. The White House responded in 2018 with massive tariffs on Chinese steel.

Rare earth metals and global trade

Early in the 21st century, the advance of digital technologies and the transition to an economy based on renewable energies created a demand for rare earth elements.

Rare earth elements are 17 chemically very similar elements, including neodymium, dysprosium, samarium and others. They occur in nature in bundles and are the ingredients that make magnets super strong and useful. They are necessary for highly efficient electric motors, wind turbines and electronic devices.

Because of their chemical similarity, separating and purifying rare earth elements involves complex and expensive processes.

China controls the majority of global rare earth processing capacity. Political tensions between countries, especially around trade tariffs and strategic competition, can risk shortages or disruptions in the supply chain.

The rare earth metals case illustrates how a single category of materials can shape trade policy, industrial planning and even diplomatic alliances.

Technological transformation begins with societal pressure. New materials create opportunities for scientific and engineering breakthroughs. Once a material proves useful, it quickly becomes woven into the fabric of daily life and broader systems. With each innovation, the material world subtly reorganizes the social world — redefining what is possible, desirable and normal.

Understanding how societies respond to new innovations in materials science can help today’s engineers and scientists solve crises in sustainability and security. Every technical decision is, in some ways, a cultural one, and every material has a story that extends far beyond its molecular structure.