An international team of researchers have developed a new blood test that could detect Parkinson’s disease earlier than current methods. The test, a real-time PCR-based assay, called Mito Dnadx, uses blood to identify damage to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) caused by the neurodegenerative condition. Based on the findings published in the journal Science Translational Medicine, the test could allow rapid, noninvasive and accurate identification of Parkinson’s disease (PD) before it causes much damage to the nervous system.