U54NS123743

Discovery of Novel TDP-43 Splicing Targets: The Achilles Heel for FTD and Towards Sensitive Biomarkers and Therapeutic Targets - Project Summary

The overall goal and singular focus of our proposed Center Without Walls is to unravel the mechanisms of FTLD-TDP. We have formed a diverse interdisciplinary team to tackle this challenge. Our team brings together experts in genetics, genomics, neuroscience, neurology, and pathology. We have FTLD experts as well as outsiders who bring new perspectives and key resources and approaches to the field.

Our team has also recently made an unexpected discovery of a new splicing target of TDP-43, which provides a direct and surprising connection to FTD human genetics and will be a launching pad for defining the mechanisms of FTLD-TDP. We posit that mis-splicing events caused by TDP-43 dysfunction may well be the earliest events in the process.

Our vision is to create a center dedicated to providing unprecedented access to TDP-43 function, even before it is depleted from the nucleus. Rather than have human genetics as an afterthought or addendum, we endeavor to have the genetics deeply integrated in our program from day 1.

Our center will make all of the data and code we generate freely available via a web portal that contains high-resolution images of human brains across different subtypes of FTLD-TDP showing, at cellular resolution, TDP-43 localization along with a panel of cryptic splicing readouts as sensitive beacons of TDP-43 activity in different brain regions. This will empower the broad FTLD research community to generate (and test) new hypotheses about disease mechanisms and to have at their disposal sensitive biomarkers.

Our center will launch multimodal efforts to:
1) Comprehensively discover the TDP-43 splicing targets relevant to human FTLD-TDP;
2) Define the mechanisms by which TDP-43-dependent cryptic exon splicing events contribute to neurodegeneration, using model systems and human tissues;
3) Harness these novel cryptic exons to generate highly sensitive and specific biomarkers for the FTD field;
4) Innovate genomics analysis methods to integrate human genetics data and RNA sequencing data and make these resources available to the community to discover how genetic risk factors for FTD contribute to cryptic exon splicing and vice versa.

We strongly suspect that we will discover the cryptic exon splicing code that serves as the Achilles' heel to drive neurodegeneration in FTLD-TDP.

The Leland Stanford Junior University

(1) TO SUPPORT EXTRAMURAL RESEARCH FUNDED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE (NINDS) INCLUDING: BASIC RESEARCH THAT EXPLORES THE FUNDAMENTAL STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF THE BRAIN AND THE NERVOUS SYSTEM; RESEARCH TO UNDERSTAND THE CAUSES AND ORIGINS OF PATHOLOGICAL CONDITIONS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM WITH THE GOAL OF PREVENTING THESE DISORDERS; RESEARCH ON THE NATURAL COURSE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS; IMPROVED METHODS OF DISEASE PREVENTION; NEW METHODS OF DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT; DRUG DEVELOPMENT; DEVELOPMENT OF NEURAL DEVICES; CLINICAL TRIALS; AND RESEARCH TRAINING IN BASIC, TRANSLATIONAL AND CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCE. THE INSTITUTE IS THE LARGEST FUNDER OF BASIC NEUROSCIENCE IN THE US AND SUPPORTS RESEARCH ON TOPICS INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO: DEVELOPMENT OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM, INCLUDING NEUROGENESIS AND PROGENITOR CELL BIOLOGY, SIGNAL TRANSDUCTION IN DEVELOPMENT AND PLASTICITY, AND PROGRAMMED CELL DEATH; SYNAPSE FORMATION, FUNCTION, AND PLASTICITY; LEARNING AND MEMORY; CHANNELS, TRANSPORTERS, AND PUMPS; CIRCUIT FORMATION AND MODULATION; BEHAVIORAL AND COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE; SENSORIMOTOR LEARNING, INTEGRATION AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION; NEUROENDOCRINE SYSTEMS; SLEEP AND CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS; AND SENSORY AND MOTOR SYSTEMS. IN ADDITION, THE INSTITUTE SUPPORTS BASIC, TRANSLATIONAL AND CLINICAL STUDIES ON A NUMBER OF DISORDERS OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM INCLUDING (BUT NOT LIMITED TO): STROKE; TRAUMATIC INJURY TO THE BRAIN, SPINAL CORD AND PERIPHERAL NERVOUS SYSTEM; NEURODEGENERATIVE DISORDERS; MOVEMENT DISORDERS; BRAIN TUMORS; CONVULSIVE DISORDERS; INFECTIOUS DISORDERS OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM; IMMUNE DISORDERS OF THE BRAIN AND NERVOUS SYSTEM, INCLUDING MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS; DISORDERS RELATED TO SLEEP; AND PAIN. PROGRAMMATIC AREAS, WHICH ARE PRIMARILY SUPPORTED BY THE DIVISION OF NEUROSCIENCE, ARE ALSO SUPPORTED BY THE DIVISION OF EXTRAMURAL ACTIVITIES, THE DIVISION OF TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH, THE DIVISION OF CLINICAL RESEARCH, THE OFFICE OF TRAINING AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, THE OFFICE OF PROGRAMS TO ENHANCE THE NEUROSCIENCE WORKFORCE, AND THE OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES. (2) TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE THE SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM; TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; TO INCREASE SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION. TO UTILIZE THE SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM; TO STIMULATE AND FOSTER SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS; TO FOSTER TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS; TO INCREASE PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT; AND TO FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

93.866 - Aging Research

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NNDS) [HHS - NIH]

National Institute on Aging (NIA) [HHS - NIH]

Stanford, California 94305 United States

Single Zip Code

Center without Walls for Molecular Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration in Frontotemporal Degeneration (FTD) (U54 Clinical Trial not Allowed) (RFA-NS-21-003)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 376% from $1,722,003 to $8,189,971.