$124,930 awarded to Dr. Stefano Stifani, McGill University.
Increasing evidence shows that the communication between motor neuron cells and other cell types plays a role in disease progression. Microglia, the immune cells of the nervous system, play a role in protecting motor neurons in healthy people but during disease processes like with ALS, they can become inflammatory and contribute to motor neuron death. These communication processes are challenging to study in human volunteers. In this project, Dr. Stifani will grow human microglia and motor neurons in the laboratory from the blood cells of people with ALS and examine how the cells communicate. He will compare the communication processes with ALS cells with those from cells that do not have ALS mutations. Overall, this project may provide a new understanding of how microglia play a role in human ALS and reveal new treatment targets. Dr. Stifani is already pursuing a similar study with another glial cell type called astrocytes as part of a research project led by Dr. Guy Rouleau that was funded by ALS Canada and Brain Canada in 2016, making this latest grant an important addition to an ongoing project expected to have a significant impact on ALS research.