International collaboration secures funding to investigate new treatments for ALS

Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences are part of an international collaboration which has secured funding to accelerate the search for new treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a devastating neurodegenerative disease with few effective therapies.

Associate Professor Michael P. Menden, Professor Danny Hatters and Professor Peter Crack are leading the Australian contribution to a global research effort, working with international collaborators across Europe and industry partners.

Their team is part of the TUM ALIGN ALS consortium, which has just been awarded the Longitude Prize on ALS, worth £100,000 (A$189,000). Beyond funding, the prize provides access to critical datasets and computational resources, enabling faster and more powerful analysis of ALS biology.

ALS, the most common form of Motor Neurone Disease, destroys motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, leading to progressive paralysis. Most patients survive three to five years after diagnosis, and treatment options remain very limited.

The project will develop advanced AI models to identify new drug targets across different forms of ALS, with the aim of enabling more effective and personalised treatments.

The consortium is one of 20 international teams competing in a multi-stage process that will ultimately identify one winner, while building a global network to accelerate progress.

The research will analyse large-scale genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and clinical datasets from international cohorts. Using AI and digital twin simulations, the team aims to model how ALS progresses in patients and uncover biological mechanisms driving the disease.