Previous Grant Recipients

2015 Pilot Grant Recipients

Basic Science Pilot Grant

“Reducing repeat toxicity in iPSC cortical neurons of C9ORF72 FTD patients”
Sandra Almeida, PhD
University of Massachusetts Medical School

Susan Marcus Memorial Fund Pilot Grant for Clinical Research

“Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as a treatment for Primary Progressive Aphasia”
Roy Hamilton, MD
University of Pennsylvania

2015 AFTD Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipients

“RNA dysfunction in Frontotemporal Dementia”
Hilary Archbold, PhD
University of Michigan

“Developing a tool for discriminating social cognition deficits in bvFTD from that of depression”
Maya Lichtenstein, MD
Geisinger Health System

2015 AFTD-ADDF Accelerating Drug Discovery for FTD Grant Recipients

“Quantitation of TDP-43 isoforms in CSF by mass spectroscopy”
Mari DeMarco, PhD
University of British Columbia 

“Low-dose lithium for the treatment of behavioral symptoms of FTD”
Edward Huey, MD
Columbia University

“The role of perfusion MRI in improving the diagnosis of FTD subtypes and longitudinal monitoring of disease progression”
Keith St. Lawrence, PhD
Lawson Health Research Institute

2014 Pilot Grant Recipients

Basic Science Pilot Grant

“Identification of the signaling receptor that mediates the neurotrophic activity of Progranulin (PGRN)”
Thomas Kukar, PhD
Emory University

Susan Marcus Memorial Fund Pilot Grant for Clinical Research

“RNA signatures of frontotemporal dementia and ALS due to C9ORF72 expansion”
Jennifer Yokoyama, PhD
UCSF

2014 AFTD-ADDF Accelerating Drug Discovery for FTD Grant Recipients

“Novel Diagnostic CSF Biomarkers for Pathological Subtypes of FTD”
Charlotte Teunissen, PhD
VU Medical Center in Amsterdam

“Lead Optimization and Pre-clinical Testing of Small Molecules that Modulate Toxicity of cFTD/ALS”
Matthew Disney, PhD
The Scripps Research Institute

2013 Pilot Grant Recipient

“Internet-based speech therapy: Improving quality of life and access to care”
Emily Rogalski, PhD
Northwestern University

2013 AFTD Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipient

“Chemical neurobiology of tauopathy patient iPSC-derived neurons”
Catarina Silva, PhD
Harvard University

2013 AFTD-ADDF Accelerating Drug Discovery for FTD Grant Recipients

“FTD C9ORF72 Based Biomarkers for Antisense-based Drug Discovery Validation”
Jeffrey Rothstein, MD, PhD
Johns Hopkins University 

“Brain slice screen for microRNA-targeted drug lead candidates for tau-associated FTD”
Donald Lo, PhD
Duke University

2012 AFTD-ADDF Accelerating Drug Discovery for FTD Grant Recipients

“Development of antisense therapy and therapeutic biomarker for C9orf72 FTD/ALS mutation patients”
Jeffrey Rothstein, MD, PhD
Johns Hopkins University

“Restoring progranulin in frontotemporal disease”
Nigel Cairns, FRCPath, PhD
Washington University, St. Louis

“Development of small molecule enhancers of autophagy for the clearance of protein aggregates and treatment of FTD”
Haung Yu, PhD
Columbia University

2011 Pilot Grant Recipient

“Signaling mechanisms of progranulin”
Fenghua Hu, PhD
Cornell University

2011 AFTD Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipient

“TMEM106B and related family members in progranulin biology”
Alexandra Nicholson, PhD
Mayo Clinic – Jacksonville

2011 AFTD-ADDF Accelerating Drug Discovery for FTD Grant Recipients

“Biomarker Optimization for Progranulin Trials”
Adam Boxer, MD, PhD
UCSF

“Dynamic disease-monitoring network biomarkers for tracking frontotemporal dementia”
William Seeley, MD
UCSF

“Identification of novel discriminatory CSF biomarkers for different FTD subtypes by proteomics”
Charlotte Teunissen, PhD
VU University Medical Center

2010 Pilot Grant Recipients

“Early indicators and modifiers of age of onset of FTD”
Stephanie Cosentino, PhD
Columbia University

“Imaging the Role of Progranulin Interaction with Sortilin in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration”
Stephen Strittmatter, MD, PhD
Yale University

2010 AFTD-ADDF Accelerating Drug Discovery for FTD Grant Recipients

“CSF Biomarkers of FTLD-TDP and FTLD-Tau — A Multi-Center Study”
William Hu, MD
Emory University

“Fine-mapping and characterization of genetic biomarkers that facilitate the acceleration of drug discovery for frontotemporal dementias”
Allen Roses, MD
Duke University

“TDP-43 and tau as cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers to discriminate frontotemporal dementia subtypes”
Marcel Verbeek, PhD, MSc
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behavior
Radboud University

“[18F]-THK523, a novel in vivo tau imaging agent”
Victor Villemagne, MD
Austin Health

2009 Pilot Grant Recipient

“Resting-State functional MRI in presymptomatic mutation carriers of MAPT or PGRN mutation”
John van Swieten, MD, PhD
Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam

2009 AFTD Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipient

“TDP-43 Acetylation and its Link to Frontotemporal Dementia”
Todd Cohen, PhD
University of Pennsylvania

2009 AFTD-ADDF Accelerating Drug Discovery for FTD Grant Recipients

“Passive Immunotherapy for Frontotemporal Dementia”
Einar Sigurdsson, PhD
New York Universit

“Drug Discovery for Progranulin-Mediated Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration”
Philip van Damme, MD, PhD
KU Leuven 

“Tau Clearance by Autophagy”
Haung Yu, PhD
Columbia University

2008 Pilot Grant Recipients

“Insensitivity to Negative (Penalizing) Feedback for Inappropriate Behaviors in FTD Linked to Orbito-Frontal Dysfunction”
Mark Gluck, PhD
Rutgers University

“MicroRNA dysregulation in frontotemporal lobar degeneration”
Rosa Rademakers, PhD
Mayo Clinic Jacksonville

2008 AFTD-ADDF Accelerating Drug Discovery for FTD Grant Recipients

“A Pilot Clinical Trial of NAP (AL-108) for Corticobasal Degeneration and Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration with Predicted Corticobasal Degeneration Pathology”
Adam Boxer, MD, PhD
UCSF 

“Hsp90 inhibitors in tauopathies: in vivo pre-clinical development”
Gabriela Chiosis, PhD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center 

“Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD) biomarker assays”
Virginia Y.-M. Lee, PhD
University of Pennsylvania 

2007 Pilot Grant Recipients

“Gene identification in a novel Mendelian FTLD-MND locus”
Marc Cruts, PhD
University of Antwerp 

“Assessing the molecular genetics of TDP-43-related neurodegeneration using a Drosophila model”
Paul Taylor, MD, PhD
University of Pennsylvania 

2007 AFTD-ADDF Accelerating Drug Discovery for FTD Grant Recipients

“In vitro testing of new lysosomal modulatory drugs for reducing tau aggregates in a hippocampal slice model”
Ben Bahr, PhD
University of North Carolina at Pembroke

“Clearance of Pathological Tau Conformers”
Einar Sigurdsson, PhD
New York University 

“Sirtuins as modifiers of neurodegeneration in a mouse model of frontotemporal dementia”
Tara Spires-Jones, DPhil
Massachusetts General Hospital 

“Optimization of Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Properties of a Small Molecule O-glycosylation Inhibitor for Treatment of Frontotemporal Dementia”
David Vocadlo, PhD
Simon Fraser University

2006 Pilot Grant Recipients

“Generation of a Mouse Model of Familial FTD caused by Progranulin Mutations”
Blair Leavitt, MD & Ian Mackenzie, MD
Simon Fraser University & University of British Columbia 

2006 Pilot Grant Recipient

“To study the ubiquitinated proteins that are found in the “inclusions” that characterize brain cells in FTLD-MND”
Eileen Biggio, MD
Northwestern University