For Researchers

Today’s research can lead to tomorrow’s breakthroughs. In this section, you’ll learn about research funding opportunities, new AFTD initiatives, and more.

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Previous Grant Recipients

Pilot Grant Recipients, 2005-2018

Name Category Institution Amount Title
2018
Paschalis Kratsios, PhD Basic Science University of Chicago $60,000 A C. elegans model to study the disease-producing effects of dipeptide repeats from the C9ORF72 locus
Liam Chen, MD, PhD Susan Marcus Translational Research Johns Hopkins University $60,000 Identification of target genes regulated by TDP-43 in human FTD brains
Lauren Massimo, PhD, CRNP Nonpharmacological Therapies and Tools University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing $60,000 Development of a goal-directed behavior app: Changing apathy into action in frontotemporal degeneration
2017
Todd Cohen, PhD Basic Science University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill $60,000 Accelerated tau pathogenesis in a new mouse model of frontotemporal dementia
Haakon Nygaard, MD Clinical Research University of British Columbia $60,000 Ambulatory assessment of sleep disorders in frontotemporal dementia
2016
Maria Llorens-Martín, PhD Basic Science CIBERNED $60,000 Tau and adult neurogenesis. Therapeutic potential for frontotemporal degeneration
Paola Caroppo, MD, PhD Clinical Research IRCCS Foundation Carlo Besta Neurological Institute $60,000 Detection of misfolded TDP-43 protein in CSF and plasma of GRN and C9orf72 mutation carriers
2015
Sandra Almeida, PhD Basic Science University of Massachusetts $60,000 Reducing repeat toxicity in iPSC-derived cortical neurons of C9ORF72 FTD patients
Roy Hamilton, MD Clinical Research University of Pennsylvania $60,000 Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as a treatment for primary progressive aphasia
2014*
Thomas Kukar, PhD Basic Science Emory University $60,000 Identification of the signaling receptor that mediates the neurotrophic activity of progranulin (PGRN)
Jennifer Yokoyama, PhD Clinical Research UCSF $60,000 RNA signatures of frontotemporal dementia and ALS due to C9ORF72 expansion
2013
Emily Rogalski, PhD — Northwestern University $60,000 Internet-based speech therapy: Improving quality of life and access to care
2012
No award
2011
Fenghua Hu, PhD — Cornell University $60,000 Signaling mechanisms of progranulin
2010
Stephen Strittmatter, MD — Yale University $60,000 Imaging the role of progranulin interaction with sortilin in frontotemporal lobar degeneration
Stephanie Cosentino, MD — Columbia University $30,000 Early indicator and modifiers of age of onset in FTD
2009
John van Swieten, PhD — Erasmus Medical Center $60,000 Resting-state functional MRI in presymptomatic mutation carriers of MAPT or PGRN mutation
2008
Mark Gluck, PhD — Rutgers University – Newark $60,000 Insensitivity to negative (penalizing) feedback for inappropriate behaviors in FTD linked to orbito-frontal dysfunction
Rosa Rademakers, PhD — Mayo Clinic-Jacksonville $60,000 MicroRNA dysregulation in frontotemporal lobar degeneration
2007
Marc Cruts, PhD — University of Antwerp $60,000 Gene identification in a novel Mendelian FTLD-MND locus
J. Paul Taylor, MD — University of Pennsylvania $60,000 Assessing the molecular genetics of TDP-43-related neurodegeneration using a Drosophila model
2006
Blair Leavitt, MD

Co-PI: Ian Mackenzie, MD

 — University of British Columbia $50,000 Generation of a mouse model of familial FTD caused by progranulin mutations
2005
Eileen Biggio, MD — Northwestern University $35,000 Ubiquitinated proteins found in the “inclusions” that characterize brain cells in FTLD-MND

*First year for independent awards in two categories: Basic Science and Clinical Research

Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipients, 2007-2019

Name Mentor Institution Amount Title
2017-2019
Kathryn Bowles, PhD Alison Goate, PhD Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai $110,000 Identification and validation of novel MAPT splicing factors and RNA-binding proteins
Joseph-Patrick Clarke, PhD Chris Donnelly, PhD University of Pittsburgh $110,000 Nucleocytoplasmic transport defects perturb granular flux In FTD
2015-2017
Hilary Archbold, PhD Sami Barmada, MD, PhD University of Michigan $110,000 RNA dysfunction in frontotemporal dementia
Maya Lichtenstein, MD Howard Feldman, MD University of British Columbia/Geisinger Health System $110,000 Developing a risk assessment tool for discriminating social cognition deficits in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia from that of depression
2013-2015
M. Catarina Silva, PhD Stephen Haggarty, PhD MGH $110,000 Chemical neurobiology of tauopathy patient ip sc-derived neurons
2011-2013
Alexandra Nicholson, PhD Rosa Rademakers, PhD Mayo Clinic-Jacksonville $110,000 TMEM106B and related family members in progranulin biology
2009-2011
Todd Cohen, PhD Virginia M.-Y. Lee, PhD University of Pennsylvania $110,000 TDP-43 acetylation and its link to frontotemporal dementia

 

AFTD-ADDF Accelerating Drug Discovery for FTD, 2007-2017

Name Institution Title
2017
Thomas Kukar, PhD Emory University Rescue of lysosomal dysfunction, neuroinflammation, and neurodegeneration by lysosomal GRN-2 in a mouse model of PGRN deficiency and Frontotemporal Dementia
2016
Xinglong Wang, PhD Case Western Reserve University Mitochondrial TDP-43 as a Novel Therapeutic Target for FTD
Justin Ichida, PhD University of Southern California A novel neuroprotective compound targeting endogenous function of C9ORF72 in vivo
2015
Mari DeMarco, PhD University of British Columbia Quantitation of TDP-43 isoforms in CSF by mass spectroscopy
Edward Huey, MD Columbia University Low-dose lithium for the treatment of behavioral symptoms of FTD
Keith St. Lawrence, PhD Lawson Health Research Institute The role of perfusion MRI in improving the diagnosis of FTD subtypes and longitudinal monitoring of disease progression
2014
Charlotte Teunissen, PhD VU Medical Center in Amsterdam Novel Diagnostic CSF Biomarkers for Pathological Subtypes of FTD
Matthew Disney, PhD The Scripps Research Institute Lead Optimization and Pre-clinical Testing of Small Molecules that Modulate Toxicity of cFTD/ALS
2013
Jeffrey Rothstein, MD, PhD Johns Hopkins University FTD C9ORF72 Based Biomarkers for Antisense-based Drug Discovery Validation
Donald Lo, PhD Duke University Brain slice screen for microRNA-targeted drug lead candidates for tau-associated FTD
2012
Jeffrey Rothstein, MD, PhD Johns Hopkins University Development of antisense therapy and therapeutic biomarker for C9orf72 FTD/ALS mutation patients
Nigel Cairns, FRCPath, PhD Washington University, St. Louis Restoring progranulin in frontotemporal disease
Haung Yu, PhD Columbia University Development of small molecule enhancers of autophagy for the clearance of protein aggregates and treatment of FTD
2011
Adam Boxer, MD, PhD UCSF Biomarker Optimization for Progranulin Trials
William Seeley, MD UCSF Dynamic disease-monitoring network biomarkers for tracking frontotemporal dementia
Charlotte Teunissen, PhD VU University Medical Center Identification of novel discriminatory CSF biomarkers for different FTD subtypes by proteomics
2010
William Hu, MD Emory University CSF Biomarkers of FTLD-TDP and FTLD-Tau — A Multi-Center Study
Allen Roses, MD Duke University Fine-mapping and characterization of genetic biomarkers that facilitate the acceleration of drug discovery for frontotemporal dementias
Marcel Verbeek, PhD, MSc Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behavior
Radboud University		 TDP-43 and tau as cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers to discriminate frontotemporal dementia subtypes
Victor Villemagne, MD Austin Health [18F]-THK523, a novel in vivo tau imaging agent
2009
Einar Sigurdsson, PhD New York University Passive Immunotherapy for Frontotemporal Dementia
Philip van Damme, MD, PhD KU Leuven Drug Discovery for Progranulin-Mediated Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration
Haung Yu, PhD Columbia University Tau Clearance by Autophagy
2008
Adam Boxer, MD, PhD UCSF A Pilot Clinical Trial of NAP (AL-108) for Corticobasal Degeneration and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration with Predicted Corticobasal Degeneration Pathology
Gabriela Chiosis, PhD Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Hsp90 inhibitors in tauopathies: in vivo pre-clinical development
Virginia Y.-M. Lee, PhD University of Pennsylvania Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD) biomarker assays
2007
Ben Bahr, PhD University of North Carolina at Pembroke In vitro testing of new lysosomal modulatory drugs for reducing tau aggregates in a hippocampal slice model
Einar Sigurdsson, PhD New York University Clearance of Pathological Tau Conformers
Tara Spires-Jones, DPhil Massachusetts General Hospital Sirtuins as modifiers of neurodegeneration in a mouse model of frontotemporal dementia
David Vocadlo, PhD Simon Fraser University Optimization of Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Properties of a Small Molecule O-glycosylation Inhibitor for Treatment of Frontotemporal Dementia

 

FTD Biomarkers Initiative

Name Institution Title
2018
Adam Boxer, MD, PhD and Howie Rosen, MD University of California San Francisco Individualized clinical and MRI endpoints for clinical trials in frontotemporal lobar degeneration, a pilot study
2016
Randall Bateman, MD Washington University in St. Louis Human CNS tau kinetics in tauopathies
Christian Haass, PhD Ludwig-Maximilians University and DZNE Assessing poly(GP) proteins as clinical and pharmacodynamic biomarkers of C9orf72-associated FTD
Leonard Petrucelli, PhD Mayo Clinic – Jacksonville Identification of novel biofluid markers of tau and TDP-43 pathology