Further funding from Australian motor neurone disease foundation FightMND will support MND research at WA’s Perron Institute and Murdoch University.

Two research projects have shared a total of $500,000 in the latest round of grants. This follows a grant of $1 million dollars from FightMND in 2020.  

Motor neurone disease is a progressive neurological disorder that destroys motor neurons, the cells in the central nervous system that control skeletal muscle activity such as walking, breathing, speaking and swallowing.

Up to ten percent of MND cases are familial, but most are sporadic. Age of onset, where in the body the disease begins and duration vary.  

Well-known AFL footballer Neale Daniher was diagnosed with MND in 2013. As co-founder and Patron of FightMND he has been highly successful in raising awareness of this cruel disease and his charity has raised more than $63 million for research and care equipment for people living with MND. 

In this latest round of FightMND grants, Principal Investigator is Professor Anthony Akkari from the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Innovative Therapeutics at Murdoch University and Perron Institute and his team have been awarded $250,000 to identify new genetic markers for MND clinical trials. 

“Genetics can significantly impact variability in MND, with growing evidence suggesting that exploring difficult to access regions of the human genome can uncover complex disease mechanisms,” Professor Akkari said. 

Establishing molecular targets and more genetic markers could improve patient stratification for clinical trials by identifying patient sub-groups.” 

In this project, Professor Akkari’s co-investigators include Frances Theunissen from Perron Institute and Murdoch University, and researchers at King’s College London, and additional investigators include from Murdoch University, Perron Institute, University of Notre Dame and University of Western Australia, including Dr Loren Flynn. 

With the support of last year’s $1million grant from FightMND, a team led by Professor Steve Wilton, Director of the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at Murdoch University and Perron Institute is seeking to develop a drug to target a damaged protein called SOD1 in collaboration with researchers at the Florey Institute.  

The second $250,000 FightMND grant for 2021 will be used to understand the genetics of MND by co-developing targeted gene therapies to address primary triggers and causes.  

Co-investigators are Professor Akkari and Dr Flynn. They are collaborating with Principal Investigator Associate Professor Lezanne Ooi from the University of Wollongong.

Other co-investigators are Dr Sam Brennan from GenieUs Genomics, Sydney, Associate Professor Seth Masters from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne and Associate Professor Bradley Turner from the Florey Institute, Melbourne. 

This research supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 to ensure healthy lives and promote well.being for all at all ages.