Researchers across Australia have received more than $30 million in grants towards research for treatments and a cure for motor neurone disease (MND).
The record funding round from FightMND, the organisation Neale Daniher co-founded in 2014, will support 69 research projects.
The major funding boost follows a surge in donations after Daniher’s death in May, aged 65, following his own 13-year battle with the disease.
One of the projects is based in Sydney, where a research team will be examining whether disturbed sleep could be an early warning sign of MND.
Associate Professor Emma Devenney, the researcher examining whether there is a link between disturbed sleep and MND, met with Governor-General Sam Mostyn to discuss the work.
“We’re really looking to see how can we identify this disease before people develop symptoms that are irreversible,” Devenney said.
Mostyn, who has taken part in FightMND’s annual Big Freeze fundraiser, said she hoped the funding would bring researchers closer to finding a cure.
“I think it’s in Neale’s memory that one day we’ll be able to say that the money raised by good people all around the country, great communities, will find that cure,” she said.
In Brisbane, Daniher’s widow, Jan, met Associate Professor Shyuan Ngo, who will investigate how cells communicate and whether those signals could help researchers better understand the disease.
“We’re trying to figure out whether or not we can pick out the signals that are causing MND, so that we can target those signals,” Ngo said.
Another project, based at the Centre for Eye Research in East Melbourne, will investigate whether drugs being developed to treat eye diseases could also help people with MND.
Professor Peter Williams is leading the research, which will test drugs designed to prevent the degeneration of the optic nerve.
Former Melbourne Demons captain Nathan Jones, who played under Daniher, joined him at the centre.
“We’ve been developing drugs for glaucoma to stop optic nerve degeneration, and the drugs that we’re developing here should be effective in MND as well,” Williams said.
“This could be a path forward, which is so exciting,” Jones said.
For Jan Daniher, the funding boost is a reminder that her husband’s work continues to inspire researchers and supporters across the country.
“I think he’d be up there with a big smile on his face, but he’d be watching every step of the way, don’t worry about that,” she said.
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