Washington University Awarded $3.1 Million Grant for ALS Research

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, which is a National Institutes of Health affiliate, recently awarded researchers from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Washington University in St. Louis a $3.1 million grant.

Tanja Mittag, of the Department of Structural Biology at St. Jude and Washington University’s Rohit Pappu, who is an engineering professor in the McKelvey School of Engineering, collected the funds, which would enable the team to research RNA-binding proteins that mutate in individuals with genetic forms of Lou Gehrig’s disease, also referred to as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The objective is to discover the basic process that results in the formation of inclusions of RNA-binding proteins and allow future identification of novel ALS treatments and other neurodegenerative ailments.

Pappu stated that this was an opportunity to collaborate and build upon work that had been launched by the St. Jude Research Collaborative. He explained that the researchers would be focused on central features of stress granules and the effect of ALS-related mutations on various facets of pathology that have been linked to proteins’ dynamic arrest in stress granules, adding that the ability to adjust these dynamics would be a new therapeutic strategy useful in ALS as well as other neurodegenerative diseases.

This research that will be funded by the grant will be adding on to prior St. Jude–Washington University partnership work, which found that the liquid-liquid phase separation of RNA-binding proteins led to formation of stress granules in cells. Mittag explained that while they found that phase separation promoted solid protein aggregate formation, they did not understand why. Mittag added that their new research looking into the underlying mechanisms would help direct the development of novel therapeutics in the future.

The research that resulted in this grant being awarded had been financed by the St. Jude Research Collaborative. This program featured researchers from Princeton University, St. Jude and Washington University in St. Louis, to help speed up progress in the field. This is 1 of the 5 collaboratives by St. Jude that have been developed to unite researchers from leading research programs around the globe, in an attempt to address the unknown.

The St. Jude Research Collaboratives are tackling various gaps in knowledge for noncancerous hematological ailments, pediatric cancers and other potentially fatal childhood disorders, with the objective being to accelerate advances in these fields.

Charles Roberts, the collaborative’s administrative leader, who is also the St. Jude Comprehensive Cancer Center director and executive president, stated that when it came to solving complex challenges, collaboration was the key to innovation.

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