Currently funded MND research

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Dr Christen Chisholm | University of Wollongong

Bill Gole MND Research Fellowship

In MND vital nerve cells that control movement gradually die, leading to paralysis. One reason these neurons fail is the build-up of damaged proteins that clump together and disrupt the cell’s normal functions. We have developed a new gene therapy designed to help cells recognise and remove these damaged proteins before they can cause harm. However, delivering this therapy to motor neurons is extremely challenging because they are protected by the blood brain barrier, a natural wall that prevents most drugs from reaching the brain and spinal cord. This project will test a new way to safely and temporarily open this barrier using focused ultrasound. By combining sound waves with tiny gas-filled microbubbles, we can create a short window that allows our gene therapy to enter the spinal cord and reach the affected neurons. If successful, this approach could protect motor neurons from damage, slow the progression of paralysis, and ultimately pave the way for safer, non-invasive treatments for MND.

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Dr Zeinab Eftekhari | University of Queensland

MND Australia Postdoctoral Fellowship

Motor neurone disease affects the nerve cells that control movement, and it may also change how the brain uses energy, but we still do not fully understand what is happening at a chemical level. My project uses a new and safe type of MRI scan called deuterium imaging to watch how the brain uses glucose, which is its main fuel, without any radiation. This scan also shows how glucose is converted into other brain chemicals such as glutamate, glutamine and lactate, which may change in MND. By comparing people with different types of MND and those with frontotemporal dementia, we aim to find out whether any energy related changes can be detected. What we learn may help future research move toward earlier detection and better ways of tracking how the disease progresses.

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A/Prof Taylor Dick | University of Queensland

Charcot Award, supported by MND South Australia 

Walking is one of the first abilities many people living with motor neurone disease begin to lose. As the nerve cells that control muscles deteriorate, everyday movements—like lifting the foot or taking a step—become slower, harder, and riskier. People adapt their walking to stay mobile for as long as possible, but these changes often come with a cost: more effort, more fatigue, and a much higher risk of falls. Despite mobility being one of the most visible and distressing impacts of MND, we still know surprisingly little about how walking changes over time, or how best to support people to stay safely on their feet. This is because the options for gait monitoring and analysis in people living with MND remain limited. This project brings movement into focus. We will quantify how movement is affected in MND, describe how these changes unfold across the course of disease, and validate low-burden gait assessment tools (both video and sensor based) that enable real-time, repeatable monitoring of mobility in both clinical and home settings. By providing sensitive but low-burden tools to measure movement, this project will help detect early mobility changes in MND and support more timely, personalised mobility aids—reducing falls and helping people living with MND stay independent for longer.

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A/Prof Albert Lee | Macquarie University

Charcot Award, supported by MND Australia 

This project aims to uncover “cryptic peptides” – tiny protein fragments that only appear when something goes wrong inside nerve cells affected by MND. We think these hidden molecules could become useful biomarkers that help doctors diagnose MND earlier and monitor how the disease progresses. To find them, we will study changes in RNA and proteins using laboratory and computer-based techniques to build a library of these cryptic peptides and test how well they reflect disease-related changes. This work will create new knowledge, support researchers worldwide, and may ultimately lead to better tools for diagnosing and tracking MND

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Dr Alexander Mason | University of Wollongong

Col Bambrick MND Research Grant

MND affects people differently. For some, weakness starts in the hands. For others, it begins in the legs or the breathing muscles. This tells us something important: not all motor neurones are equally vulnerable. But current lab models treat all motor neurones as if they are the same, which makes it harder to discover why some fail earlier than others. We want to change that by building a tiny, simplified map of the human spinal cord using stem cells. With the help of small biodegradable beads that release signals over time, and a robot that positions them with great precision, we can guide stem cells to grow into three distinct spinal regions in one dish. It is like giving the cells a sense of place, instead of raising them in a uniform environment. Once these regions form, we test how the motor neurones look, fire and connect. This will let us see which types struggle first and why. In the bigger picture, this approach shows what stem cell technology can offer: a way to recreate human tissues in the lab, study disease at the right level of detail, and test new treatments in a system that reflects real human biology. Our aim is to provide a clear and accessible tool that helps researchers move faster and focus on therapies that could make a meaningful difference for people living with MND.

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Dr Andrew Reading | University of Tasmania

Daniel Veysey MND Research Grant

MND typically results in issues with the protein TDP-43. By recreating these issues in the lab, researchers can investigate why these problems occur, what further effects they have, and try to resolve them. As such, dependable and effective ways to recreate TDP-43 problems in controllable systems, or ‘models’ is critical to developing our understanding of the disease and in looking for candidate therapeutics to take to the clinic. In this project we will create engineered versions of TDP-43, allowing researchers to cause the same problems we see in disease, but with the precise control of an on/off switch. They will be able to control when the changes start and for how long the changes are allowed to continue for. In this way they can discover what occurs because of these changes, what parts of these changes can easily revert on their own, and which problems need therapeutic intervention to stop the progression of disease. For these engineered TDP-43 proteins, the on/off switch will be light! Easy to delivery, precise to control and as simple to turn on and off as flicking a switch. These models will accelerate the investigation of this protein and help researchers develop therapeutics to stop or reverse the damaging effects of TDP-43 in MND.

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Prof Bradley Turner | University of Melbourne

MonSTaR MND Research Grant

Kennedy’s disease (KD) is a form of MND affecting men and is caused by a single genetic defect. This project seeks to develop a pioneering genetic therapy approach for KD. We have created a DNA designer drug which “turns off" the defective KD gene. To facilitate body-wide delivery of our DNA designer drug, we will implement cutting-edge brain-targeting peptide technology which enables efficient delivery of our drug into the brain from the bloodstream. We predict that our DNA designer drug will significantly suppress the KD gene in both patient-derived cell and animal models, providing important evidence for continued development of our gene therapy approach for KD.

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A/Prof Gabriel Trajano | Queensland University of Technology

NTI MND Research Grant

Motor neurone disease (MND) affects the nerves that connect the brain to the muscles, enabling voluntary movement. In this project, we will use an innovative technology called high-density electromyography to record the electrical activity generated by these nerves within the muscle. The recorded signals will then be analysed to obtain valuable insights into the different pathways through which the brain communicates with the muscles. The results of this project will help us understand how and when these brain–muscle connections are disrupted by the disease, supporting the development of new biomarkers and personalised treatment strategies.

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Dr Liam Koehn | Monash University

Peter Stearne Familial MND Research Grant

Inflammation occurs in the brain and spinal cord of people with MND. We have a new drug that is able to effectively reduce excessive inflammation. In our study we will test some new ways to increase the amount of that drug that can get from the blood across into the brain and spinal cord, where it can perform its protective actions. We will then treat mice that have symptoms of MND with this optimised drug and measure whether the mice have improved strength and longer survival than mice that do not receive the treatment. Overall, the present study will investigate whether this new drug is a promising candidate to treat MND. 

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Dr Nida ul Fatima | Macquarie University

Phyllis Diana Seman MND Research Grant

We aim to understand how brain immune cells, called microglia, contribute to the damage seen in motor neuron disease. Using tiny, transparent zebrafish that carry human ALS-related genes, we can watch in real time how microglia change shape to activate, interact with motor neurons and switch on inflammatory pathways. By either removing these microglia or turning off specific inflammation pathways, we can test whether microglia are helping or harming nerve cells at different stages of the disease. This work could reveal ways to keep microglia in a “protective mode” and block harmful inflammation. This could lead to new treatment strategies that slow down disease progression and improve quality of life for people living with MND.

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Dr Sandrine Chan Moi Fat | Macquarie University

Jenny Simko MND Research Grant

This project will study the DNA inside the mitochondria, the powerhouse of our cells, to understand their role in Motor Neuron Disease (MND). Using advanced genetic techniques and data from about 1,000 Australians living with MND or at risk of developing it, we will look for changes in mitochondrial DNA that may influence how the disease starts and how severe it becomes. We will also compare mitochondrial DNA in twins where only one has MND, and in people who carry known genetic mutations but have not yet developed symptoms. This research could reveal early warning signs of MND and help predict how the disease will progress. Ultimately, our findings may lead to better ways to diagnose, monitor and treat people living with MND.

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Dr Thais Sobanski | Queensland University

Fat Rabbit MND Research Grant

We have uncovered a new type of chemical change that can occur on proteins when cells process energy. Early evidence suggests this change may influence how key proteins behave in ALS. In this project, we will study how this new chemical protein change differs between healthy and ALS-affected motor neurons and whether it contributes to features commonly seen in the disease, such as important proteins moving to the wrong place in the cell or forming harmful clumps. This understanding could help improve the health or resilience of motor neurons.

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Dr William Reay | University of Tasmania

Murray Geale MND Research Grant

B-vitamins are essential for brain health. Our previous research has suggested that B-vitamins may play a role in MND, with clinical trials investigating vitamin B12 based drugs having promising initial results in slowing disease progression. However, there is still much we do not know about B-vitamins in MND, with some B-vitamins also potentially having negative effects. In this project, we will investigate how B-vitamins directly affect nerve cells in MND, to uncover why they might be beneficial. We will also explore whether combining multiple B-vitamin drugs could make them more effective. Revealing how B-vitamins interact with disease pathways in MND could pave the way for discovering new therapeutic targets and support refining existing treatments.

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Anastasiya Potapenko | Macquarie University

In almost all people living with MND, a protein called TDP-43 malfunctions, forming toxic clumps and losing its ability to perform critical functions in cells. There is currently no way to stop or treat this, however, emerging evidence suggests that another protein called ataxin-3 may be able to help. This project will be the first to establish how the ataxin-3 protein may have beneficial effects against toxic, malfunctioning TDP-43 protein in both human cell and zebrafish models of MND. This knowledge could guide future research on a treatment for malfunctioning TDP-43, which would likely benefit most people living with MND.

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Yi Ling Clare Low | University of Melbourne

Emerging evidence suggests that small fat-storing structures in cells, called lipid droplets, may play a role in MND. This project aims to explore how changes in fat metabolism are connected to neurodegeneration and inflammation in MND using models and advanced techniques in neuroimmunology, fat metabolism, and computational biology. By mapping these changes in unprecedented detail, the project hopes to uncover new clues about the causes of MND and identify potential targets for future treatments. This research will not only improve our understanding of MND, but also help in developing better therapies for those affected by the disease.