Emily Carroll Receives MND Association Pre-Fellowship to Pave the Way for MND Breakthroughs
Emily Carroll Receives MND Association Pre-Fellowship to Pave the Way for MND Breakthroughs
Emily Carroll, a dedicated post-doctoral researcher at the Kevin Talbot Lab within the Kavli INsD, has been honored with a prestigious Pre-Fellowship from the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association. This award recognizes Emily's exceptional potential as a future leader in MND research and her vital role in advancing our understanding of this complex and challenging disease.
Watch Emily talking on on fundraising for Motor Neurone Disease Research
Announced earlier this year and funded by the MND Association and coordinated by MND Scotland, the pre-fellowship scheme aims to bridge the gap between completing a PhD and applying for a fellowship. These fellowships represent the next step for researchers aspiring to establish fully independent research careers. The pre-fellowships provide 12-18 months of funding, enabling scientists to gather essential data and serve as a stepping stone to a career in MND research and future leadership in the field.
As part of the MND Association's commitment to nurturing emerging talent and supporting early career researchers, Emily's research will focus on a groundbreaking investigation into the potential of existing drugs, typically used to treat other medical conditions, as innovative treatments for MND. This research initiative comes as a beacon of hope for individuals affected by MND, a disease for which there is currently no cure, and opens up new possibilities in the quest for effective therapies.
There is currently no cure for MND, and new treatments are desperately needed. The traditional drug discovery process is time consuming, expensive and carries a high risk of failure. My research involves looking at existing drugs, which are currently used to treat other conditions, and seeing whether they can be effective in the treatment of MND. We hope that by examining existing drugs, instead of developing new ones from scratch, we will be able to ‘fast-track’ the drug discovery process for MND.
Emily's project will utilize a well-established mouse model of MND to explore the repurposing of six pre-identified compounds, showing promise in correcting certain neuronal abnormalities associated with MND. By delving into how these drugs function and conducting extensive testing in various models, including cell and zebrafish models of MND, Emily aims to determine their efficacy and potential. Moreover, these candidate MND treatments will undergo rigorous evaluation both individually and in combination to assess their synergy. The most promising drugs identified in this research will be poised for further development and testing within the EXPERTS-ALS drug testing platform, offering new horizons in MND therapeutics.
Emily Carroll's dedicated work at the Kevin Talbot's Lab, NDCN, supported by the MND Association's Pre-Fellowship, represents a significant step forward in the ongoing battle against MND. Her groundbreaking research offers renewed hope for patients, their families, and the broader MND research community.
We congratulate Emily for her well deserved recognition!
