£250,000 Boost for MND Research Partnership

We are delighted to announce that MND Scotland is investing £250,000 into a new motor neurone disease (MND) partnership, aimed at speeding up the development of effective MND treatments.  

This exciting initiative is a collective partnership of charity funders; medical research charity LifeArc, MND Association, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, as well as government funders Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). 

It aims to accelerate the process of taking findings from lab research and developing them into promising, new treatments for MND (known as translational research). 

The partnership fund already stands at £4 million, and with MND Scotland now committing £250,000, this takes the fund total to £4.25 million.  

The partnership will provide funding for a new UK wide collaborative network of MND researchers which will lay the foundations for the future larger scale investment in translational MND research. This collaboration will bring together government, academia, industry and the charity sector, to speed up the discovery of new ways to test and identify better treatments for MND patients. 

LifeArc’s Dr Catriona Crombie, who is leading the partnership on behalf of the funders said: “We are delighted MND Scotland have joined the team of funders. Having more money available to spend means the MND research team will be able to bring a bigger research proposal to the table. Ultimately this could help to provide us with more knowledge and give more answers for MND patients.” 

Dr Jane Haley MBE, MND Scotland’s Head of Research, said: “This is an incredibly exciting opportunity which brings together experts from across the UK MND research community. People with MND do not have time to wait.  By working together, researchers and organisations can pool their knowledge, experience, resources and funding, so that ultimately we can find a cure faster. 

“We are very excited to be part of this progressive partnership and we are unbelievably grateful to all of our supporters for making it happen. We simply would not be able to do this without the ongoing generosity of our fundraisers and donors. Thank you for continuing to fight back against motor neurone disease.” 

We’ll be sharing more plans and developments soon, and in the meantime you can read more about this new fund on LifeArc’s website, or you can help us continue funding more pioneering MND research by donating here.