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2 Headlines Headlines is a Neurological Foundation publication. Editor Danelle Clayton Design The Design Cellar Ltd ISSN 0114-9768 Your Supporter Care Team Connecting you with the right person to help. If you have any questions, contact or communication preference updates, our friendly team would love to hear from you. Phone: 0508 272 467 Email: info@neurological.org.nz Website: www.neurological.org.nz If you are not a current subscriber to Headlines and would like to receive this free publication four times a year, please contact us and we’ll add you to our mailing list. Scan the QR code to read previous Headlines issues on our website. Headlines is printed on paper from responsible resources Kia ora koutou, I’m so excited about our new Programme and Platform Grants. These were launched at a special event with Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Dame Cindy Kiro – New Zealand’s Governor-General and the Foundation’s patron – late last month. As you know, for over 50 years we’ve invested in brilliant New Zealand research. Now, 2025 sees an innovation with two new grant types, adding to the exceptional work already made possible by our generous donors. I’d like to thank the Foundation’s Council for endorsing our vision of broader, more wide-ranging research initiatives with larger impacts. I’d also like to acknowledge the energy and effort of our Head of Research, Dr Sarah Schonberger, who’s been an integral part of getting Programme and Platform Grants up and running. So, what was the problem we were trying to solve? As Sarah explains: “A key funding gap in New Zealand is ongoing support for platforms that are not based on a single research hypothesis – for example, longitudinal studies and registries. Short-term project funding is important to test new ideas, but without longer term grants as well, we risk research never reaching the translational stage. To expand a platform or get a significant programme of work underway, a larger investment is needed.” The Foundation received 35 expressions of interest from universities and hospitals across New Zealand for these high-value grants, worth up to $1M each. From 22 programme and 13 platform applications, 12 teams were invited to submit full applications. An independent committee, comprising one New Zealand representative and five Australian experts, spanning clinical and laboratory research, rigorously reviewed the proposals and interviewed the 12 applicant teams before recommending the awarding of the top four applications – two programmes and two platforms. This is huge for our research community. Various recipients have described the funding as providing a stable base for more ambitious studies, enabling them to do work with “amazing potential”. They each gratefully acknowledged what a privilege it is to have received this backing. We’ll share stories of each programme and platform in coming Headlines , starting with the visionary programme to help make blood-based testing for Alzheimer’s disease a reality for Kiwis. See pages 5-7 to find out more. A new era is dawning – and you are a vital part of it. Thank you so much for helping to support and sustain science in this country. Such exciting times ahead! Mā te wā, Rich Easton CEO Message from our Chief Executive A landmark new category of grants A roadmap to prepare New Zealand for an Alzheimer’s blood test A new chapter for the University of Auckland Centre for Brain Research Sir Richard Faull's extraordinary legacy First steps toward treatments for spinal cord injury Three Philip Wrightson fellows Peg’s final act of kindness Future neuroscientists: Brain Bee and Summer Students Contents 4 5 8 10 14 16 18 19