The Thierry Latran Foundation 8th Call for projects opened in November 2015
to finance research with potential therapeutic benefit in sporadic ALS on the following themes:
Biological markers, pathological pathways and mechanisms, therapeutic strategies, innovative molecules in the fields of ALS and protection of motor neurons.
Submission of clinical or patient centric/oriented research projects were particularly encouraged
We received 91 abstracts coming from 15 different countries
Since inception, 623 projects were submitted to the Foundation.
Selection process:
Each Member of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), assessed independently the 82 abstracts taking into account their scientific quality and their relevance to the objectives of the Foundation. During the process, the members of the Scientific Committee with a conflict of interest did participate neither to assessment nor to discussion.
These assessments have been consolidated and anonymized. A meeting of the Scientific Committee was held in February 2016 for selection, validated by the Foundation. 15 projects were selected for full application.
Each of the 15 application was analyzed by 2 different ‘referees’, specialized on the theme of the project and having no connection with the applicants. The members of the Scientific Committee met in May to assess the projects on the basis of the opinion of the “referees” and to classify them into 3 groups A (strong recommendation for funding) B (projects recommended to be financed according to the available budget) and C (projects not recommended for funding). The SAB’s recommendations were presented to the Executive Committee in June 2016.
At the end, four projects were selected, meeting the selection criteria i.e. scientific excellence and contribution to the development of a therapy.
Project 1 : INSPIRED
Adriano CHIO, Neurology Department, Torino, Italy
1. INSPIREDProject 2: astrocyte secretome
Laura Ferraiuolo, SITraN , University of Sheffield, England
2. astrocyte secretomeProject 3 : miRNAgenetics
Eran HORNSTEIN, Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israël
3. miRNAgeneticsProject 4 : ALS- HDAC6
Ludo VAN DEN BOSCH, Neurobiology, VIB KU Leuven, Belgium
4. ALS-HDAC6The Thierry Latran Foundation is extremely grateful for the excellent work done by
Pr Wim Robberecht (Leuven University, Belgium) (President)
Pr Caterina Bendotti (Mario Negri Institute, Milano, Italy)
Pr Leonard H van den Berg (Utrecht University, The Netherlands)
Dr Séverine Boillée (ICM, Paris, France)
Dr Jan Egebjerg (Lundbeck, Denmark)
Pr Linda Greensmith (University College of London, UK)
Pr Eva Hedlund (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden)
Pr Albert Ludolph (Ulm University, Germany)
Elke Bogaert , SAB secretary (PHD in Neurosciences, Leuven) who drove the process.