Boost to MND research: Research fellowships announced

Progress in Motor Neurone Disease (MND) research activity has moved a significant step forward as the first Medical Research Council/MND Association Lady Edith Wolfson Clinical Research Fellowships are formally announced.

Awarded to Dr Martin Turner at the University of Oxford and Sheffield-based researcher Dr Robin Highley, the fellowships will play a vital role in helping the Association to strengthen and progress emerging knowledge from the lab in to treatment strategies for people living with the disease (translational research), whilst creating new scientific leaders in the field. The fellowships will facilitate the Association’s aim to unlock the secrets of this cruel disease and to identify promising new treatments.

This collaboration with the MRC, the first of its kind for the charity, forms part of the Association’s plans to spend an additional £7.5 million on MND research in the coming years. This fellowship scheme is the first major collaborative initiative to arise from the Research Foundation campaign.

Dr Turner's project will look at the development of MND biomarkers. Biomarkers are predictable markers of the progression of a disease. If they can be identified for MND then they could dramatically improve the speed and accuracy with which MND is diagnosed and the way future treatments are assessed.

“I would like to sincerely thank the MRC, the family of Lady Edith Wolfson, and the MND Association for this award,” says Dr Turner. “I have been privileged to be involved in MND research for nearly a decade and I am more passionate than ever, along with many like-minded scientists around the world, about putting a bigger dent in this disease.”

Dr Highley will be using his fellowship to understand how a protein called TDP-43 may be involved in the death of motor neurones in MND. Specifically he will investigate how the movement of TDP-43 from one compartment to another within motor neurones affects their vulnerability.TDP-43 is a very hot topic at the moment in MND research, as it appears to have some involvement in nearly all cases of the disease.

“We know very little about the function of TDP-43,” he explains, “and my project will address this. It is a very exciting project that promises to significantly contribute to our understanding of MND. Personally, this prestigious award represents a fabulous career opportunity, with the chance to acquire new skills and experience of MND research. I am extremely grateful to the MND Association, the MRC and the family of Lady Edith Wolfson, in whose memory these research fellowships have been established.”

In recent years, promoting and strengthening the translation of knowledge of the disease into potential treatment strategies has been a key priority for both the MRC and MND Association, with both organisations keen to turn good science into patient benefit. To complement the fellowships the MRC has announced a call for proposals for MND-related research projects for consideration as part of its commitment to progressing research into MND.

The MND Association’s Director of Research Development, Dr Brian Dickie, says: “World-beating research needs world-beating researchers. The clinical fellowships allow us to attract the best young clinicians with a strong interest in MND, develop their scientific expertise and place them at the heart of translational research.”

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council, adds: “The MRC is delighted to be able to work in partnership with the MND Association to raise the profile of research into Motor Neurone Disease. We place a great importance on helping to support the early careers of promising clinician scientists and wish the new fellows every success in their research.”