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An incredible investment in NEUROSCIENCE New Zealand’s neuroscience community received an amazing $2.6m from the Neurological Foundation in our latest grant round – 2024B. Congratulations to all award recipients. Only those projects of the highest calibre are selected by our independent advisory committees to receive funding. In total we allocated: $2.6M to 8 projects, 10 personal awards, and 12 conference and travel grants. PROJECT GRANTS Dr Angus Lindsay, University of Canterbury Duchenne muscular dystrophy $287,822 Patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) are more vulnerable to muscle damage due to loss of dystrophin, a muscle protein that provides stability. Emerging therapies such as gene editing are being developed to counter this – but they are typically designed to prevent single instances of damage. This study will evaluate therapies to protect muscles against multiple instances of damage, which can be caused by everyday movement or simple activities over the lifetime of a patient. Dr Kelly Zhou, University of Auckland Oxygen deprivation at birth $286,483 The only treatment available for oxygen deprivation in infants around birth is hypothermia (mild cooling), however, it doesn't help all babies. Add-on treatments to further reduce brain injury are needed. A potential target is inflammation, an immune cell response after injury known to worsen brain injury. This study will investigate how this immune cell response contributes to brain damage, in order to develop better treatment strategies for babies. Dr Bruce Mockett, University of Otago – Dunedin Dementia $175,549 The blood-brain barrier (BBB) protects the brain from foreign substances, including therapeutic drugs to treat disease. This project will explore a promising new gene therapy for Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia and how it can be safely delivered into the brain across the BBB, using a virus as a delivery tool. This will help to bring gene therapies for brain diseases closer to reality. Professor Stephanie Hughes, University of Otago – Dunedin Batten disease $174,851 CLN1 Batten disease is a fatal genetic childhood brain disease, resulting in blindness, seizures, dementia and motor deficits. Current treatments can only relieve symptoms. This study will investigate techniques to trick cells into correcting the most common gene mutation found in Batten disease, which if successful, could benefit many CLN1 patients. Headlines 13