For many of the 200,000 patients diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in the United States every year, the diagnosis often occurs only after the appearance of severe symptoms such as tremors or speech difficulties. With the goal of recognizing and treating neurological diseases earlier, researchers are looking for new ways to image biological molecules that indicate disease progression before symptoms appear. One such candidate, and a known hallmark of Parkinson's disease, is the formation of clumps of alpha-synuclein protein, and, while this protein was identified more than 20 years ago, a reliable way to track alpha-synuclein aggregates in the brain has yet to be developed.