Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

Unfortunately, we do not know the causes underlying many diseases affecting the nervous system. With an ageing population, these diseases are certain to become more prevalent in our society. Understanding the cellular changes caused by genetic mutations represents the first step towards the development of new therapies. Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is the second greatest cause of dementia and the most important cause of early-onset dementias. The age at which symptoms first develop varies between individuals, but in all cases, they result in the death of affected individuals within 2-5 years of diagnosis. Quite often, patients affected by FTD will also be affected by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and many genes have been implicated in the progression of both these diseases, including the granulin gene, and its product the progranulin protein. For the past many years, my laboratories have been interested by the mechanisms that cause the neuronal toxicity characteristic of these diseases. My research will utilize novel techniques to better understand the biological function of progranulin and its role in the progression of FTD, and to identify therapeutic compounds which will be of direct benefit to patients. By doing so, my project aims to bring us closer to developing a therapy for this disease. Since progranulin has previously been implicated in a variety of other diseases, the impact of my work will go beyond FTD and will open up potential new targets for therapeutics in other illnesses.