September 26, 2012 (whatever happened to this?)

With the newly developed method – this involves electrochemical analysis of 10 microliters of blood in just a few minutes – it is possible not only to see a clear difference between individuals with incipient Parkinson's disease and healthy controls but also to measure and establish the advance of the disease with great precision.

http://phys.org/news/2012-09-closer-...n-disease.html

I also found this dated March of 2015. I wonder why this isn't top priority, as it sure seems like a simple blood test to diagnose PD would speed up drug developments as a researcher could get fast real time feedback as to how their drug is working! If the density/quantity of alpha synuclein levels directly corresponds to PD this blood test would revolutionize PD diagnosis and research and would seem to minimize the placebo effect that is is strong in PD research! This needs to get fast track status and would be entirely safe as it's just a blood test! It's too bad PD patients aren't in charge of PD research! OK, I'll get off my soap box now.

Low cost, minimally invasive blood test with broad potential for future development

This technology is a simple, inexpensive method to diagnose PD or confirm a diagnosis, and has the potential to be further developed to monitor disease progression and the efficacy of novel therapies. Furthermore, because the technology identifies the pathways required for the immune response, it offers researchers new broad targets for drug discovery and facilitates the potential development of patient-specific molecules in a personalized medicine approach to treatment.

http://www.ibridgenetwork.org/columbia/ir_cu14042