Discovering how TDP-43 impacts a motor neurone’s response to damaged axons in MND.
Principal Investigator: Prof Pietro Fratta
Lead Institution: University College London
MND Association Funding: £175,00* Clinical Research Fellowship
Funding dates: October 2019 - September 2024
* Supported by The Lady Edith Wolfson Fellowship Programme
About the project
TDP-43 is a protein important for the specific transport of RNA to different locations in the axons and in the response of cells to stress and damage. This project will combine novel mouse models and patient cell lines to investigate how TDP-43 impacts the response of motor neurons to damage in the axons, and the relevance of this response pathway in MND. It will help to understand how changes in TDP-43 impact motor neuron survival.
What could this mean for MND research?
Discovering how faulty TDP-43 proteins, a hallmark of MND, are implicated in the disease will deepen our understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms which contribute to disease onset and progression. This information will be essential to develop future effective therapeutics.
Project code: 951-795
