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Last month the final two Oxford-GSK Institute of Molecular and Computational Medicine (IMCM) Fellows were welcomed to NDM’s Centre for Human Genetics. Dr Martina Hallegger and Dr Charmaine Lang join Dr Steph Fowler to build capacity in neurodegenerative disease research at the Centre.

Dr Steph Fowler, Dr Martina Hallegger, Dr Charmaine Lang - IMCM Fellows

Each of the Fellows is leading an independent research programme that complements the aims and activities of the Oxford-GSK IMCM to address the problems of patient stratification, heterogeneity and disease taxonomy in neurodegenerative diseases, which have become significant barriers to drug development.

Dr Fowler’s group is investigating mechanisms of tau secretion with the aim of developing novel strategies that significantly slow the spread of tau and Alzheimer’s Disease progression.

Dr Hallegger’s group will use sophisticated transcriptomic methods and biophysical approaches to characterise condensation-dependent RNA binding and regulating on a molecular level to give better insights into the earliest stages of FTD-ALS disease aetiology and how to modulate them.

Dr Lang’s group has three over-arching aims: understanding glial-neuron communication in health and disease, identifying translational therapeutic targets and targeting cell type specific isoform expression of Parkinson’s relevant proteins.

Professor John Todd, Professor of Precision Medicine at the Centre for Human Genetics, said: ‘The recruitment of Steph, Martina and Charmaine as Principal Investigators in the Centre for Human Genetics is a major and exciting development in our relatively recent entry into the area of neuroinflammation/neurodegeneration. Their posts are supported by GSK funding as part of the Oxford-GSK Institute for Molecular and Computational Medicine, which currently has projects in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s and motor neuron disease. As well as critical mass, they bring ideas, knowledge and amazing experimental assays and approaches to bear in this area of huge unmet clinical need.’