Hurricane Katrina provides new source.

• Position: Parkinson's Disease

A compound often emitted by mold may be linked to symptoms of Parkinson's disease, according to researchers at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. Arati Inamdar and Joan Bennett, researchers in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, established the connection between a compound popularly known as mushroom alcohol and the malfunction of two genes involved in the packaging and transport of dopamine, the chemical released by nerve cells to send messages to other nerve cells in the brain.

"Parkinson's has been linked to exposure to environmental toxins, but the toxins were manmade chemicals," Inamdar explains. "We show that biologic compounds have the potential to damage dopamine and cause Parkinson's symptoms, too."

For Bennett, the research was more than academic. She was working at Tulane University in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005. Her flooded house became infested with molds, which she collected in samples, wearing a mask, gloves, and protective gear.

"I felt horrible--headaches, dizziness, nausea," recalls Bennett, professor of plant pathology and biology. "I knew something about 'sick building syndrome' but, until then, I didn't believe in it. I didn't think it would be possible to breathe in enough mold spores to get sick."

...