New ALS research grants awarded for 2024

Mark HeidenFoundation Blog, Home Page, Research News

We’re excited to share the latest ALS research grants from the Les Turner ALS Center at Northwestern Medicine and highlight a new milestone: in 2024, the Les Turner ALS Foundation is funding more than $1 million in ALS research grants and clinic and endowment support at the Les Turner ALS Center.

Under the leadership of Robert G. Kalb, MD, the Joan and Paul Rubschlager Professor and Chief of the Division of Neuromuscular Medicine, the Les Turner ALS Center unites expertise across scientific disciplines at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, seeking to generate new insights and significant advances in the fight against ALS.

These grants have attracted several researchers who are highly acclaimed for their work in other fields and are new to the ALS community. Grants also support lines of research that began with previous grants from the Les Turner ALS Center and have proven worthy of further investigation, such as the connection between the immune system and ALS and studying stem cells to better understand the drivers behind sporadic ALS.

“These research grants will advance several areas of investigation that have shown promising results, and they will bring exciting new insights and fresh perspectives into the field,” said Dr. Kalb.

2024 ALS Research Grants

Developing a Multiplex iPSC-based Platform for Interrogating Sporadic ALS Disease Mechanisms
Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD

Characterizing the Metabolite Changes in Lysosomal and Mitochondrial Compartments in ALS
Navdeep Chandel, PhD
Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD

Target identification for NU-9, a drug to treat ALS
Richard Silverman, PhD

Tunneling nanotube transfer of TDP-43 and FUS RNA granules between neurons
Yvette Wong, PhD

Ambient glutamate and motoneuronal excitability: the role of system xc- in ALS pathogenesis
Charles J. Heckman, PhD

Intrinsic pyramidal cell excitability and GABA’ergic neurotransmission in ALS mouse models
Marco Martina

Spatial transcriptomics to elucidate neuroimmune mechanisms of ALS
David Gate

The effect of Ataxin-2 polyQ expansion on motor-driven transport along microtubules
Vladimir Gelfand, PhD

Therapeutic targeting of UNC13A mis-splicing in ALS
Evangelos Kiskinis

Funding for ALS research at the Les Turner ALS Center is made possible through the support of our generous donors. Please consider joining them by making a donation or signing up for an upcoming event such as the Les Turner ALS Walk for Life on Saturday, Sept. 14 at Soldier Field in Chicago.