The Scientific Advisory Board brings together recognized scientists, representative of the European Community with complementary expertise.

Composed of members designed by the Executive Committee
Contribute to the definition of the scientific strategy of the Foundation and of the research field for the call for applications.
Evaluate and assess the grant applications within the call for applications or when submitted by the Executive Committee .
Organize an annual scientific meeting where results form all supported projects are presented and discussed.

The Scientific Advisory Board practical modalities as well as the selection process are fixed by the internal rules of the Foundation. The secretary of the Scientific Advisory Board, Elke Bogaert, is responsible for the evaluation and selection process of each call for projects.

The high quality of the research results is due to the work undertaken by our European Scientific Council, whom we wish to thank warmly.

Since the 11th Call for Projects, the Scientific Council is chaired by Prof. Albert Ludolph, the successor to Prof. Wim Robberecht. Albert Ludolph has been a member of our Scientific Council since its inception. He is Professor of Neurology and Chairman of the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital and Medical Faculty of Ulm. He established and leads the ALS-Centre at the University Hospital of Ulm and directs a multidisciplinary team for ALS care, clinical and experimental research. His research focuses on models for ALS, both naturally occurring and animal models, clinical genetics, development of clinical care, and translational research including the development of new drugs for ALS.

The members of the Scientific Council are from left to right

Jan Egebjerg, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Antwerp: Specialist in the development of new molecules for neurodegenerative diseases. A PhD in Neuroscience, he was director for neurodegeneration at Lundbeck and recently moved to Janssen as Senior Director, Neurodegeneration Discovery Biology.

Linda Greensmith, University College London: Her team uses a multidisciplinary approach to investigate ALS, examining motor neurons both in animal models as well as in primary cell cultures of motor neurons, muscles and glial cells.

Philip Van Damme, University Hospital Leuven: is a new member, he is Professor of Neurology and Chairman at the University Hospital Leuven and of the Department of Neurosciences at the University of Leuven. He is director of the Neuromuscular Reference Centre at the University Hospital Leuven and directs a multidisciplinary team for ALS care and clinical research that is actively involved in ALS genetics and clinical trials. He leads a group of researchers in the laboratory of Neurobiology (University of Leuven and Center for Brain & Disease Research VIB Leuven) working on the genetics of ALS, biomarkers of ALS and on disease mechanisms using different disease models, including patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells. His projects were selected in 2009, 2013 and 2016, therefore he has attended each annual meeting.

Elke Bogaert and Albert Ludolph

Séverine Boillee, ICM, Paris: Her team focuses on the pathological interactions between the affected motor neurons and their reactive neighbouring microglia and macrophages.

Eva Hedlund, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm: Her focus is on stem cell approaches to understanding motor neuron development and disease.

Adriano Chio, University of Torino: is a new member, he is a Professor of Neurology and Director of the ALS Centre at the University of Torino and the Città della Salute e della Scienza Hospital, Torino. He leads the Italian ALS Genetic (ITALSGEN) Consortium. Chiò, whose main areas of research are epidemiology, cognition, neuroimaging, and genetics of ALS, is best known for his research on risk of ALS in football players, the phenotypic heterogeneity of ALS and has contributed to the discovery of several ALS genes, including C9ORF72. One of his projects was selected in 2016, therefore, he has attended the annual meeting in the past two years.