Cohen explains, “These grants will support efforts to understand how these rare neurodegenerative diseases (ALS, FTD, and PSP) evolve using new animal models that we expect will better mirror human disease. If so, researchers can use these models to identify future drugs that prevent disease onset or progression in patients.”
The grants include:
Organization: The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration (AFTD)
Grant award: $60,000/year for one year
Project Description: To develop new animal models of FTD caused by mutant tau proteins.
Organization: The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA)
Grant award: $100,000/year for three years
Project Description: To develop new animal models of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) by manipulating the TDP-43 gene.
Organization: CurePSP
Grant award: $50,000/year for two years
Project Description: To establish new tau biomarkers that distinguish progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) from other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease.