Using a new tool to discover more about toxic clumps of TDP-43 that occur in MND.
Principal Investigator: Dr Jenna Gregory
Lead Institution: University of Aberdeen
MND Association Funding: £266,853
Funding dates: July 2024 - June 2027
About the project
Currently MND is diagnosed only once symptoms have begun and are severe enough to notice that something is wrong. However, if it can be diagnosed earlier or even before symptoms begin, people with MND could access treatments and clinical trials before there is too much damage to neurons. This project uses a new tool, called an aptamer, which might help to detect signs of the disease earlier. This tool is designed to stick to clumps of a toxic protein, called TDP-43, that occur in around 97% of people with MND. It is thought to stick to and identify small clumps that begin to form in the very early stages of disease. The researchers will use this aptamer to observe patterns of toxic clumps in different areas of the brain using post-mortem tissue from people who have died from MND.
What could this mean for MND research?
Understanding more about the locations and patterns of these TDP-43 clumps might help to uncover why people with MND have different symptoms and disease progression. This could mean that people with MND can take part in more appropriate clinical trials earlier and might also lead to more personalised predictions of disease progression.
Resources
Webinars
Project code: 2374-791