Research

Augusto Odone New Investigator Award

New Research Award for AMN

The Myelin Project announces the creation of the Augusto Odone Young Investigator Award. This Award is created to encourage promising young investigators to pursue a career in remyelination research. This Research Award will be co-funded by Oliver's Army and The Myelin Project.

This first Award is aimed at research of adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN). Adrenomyeloneuropathy (AMN) is a rare inherited metabolic disorder that is a form of Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), which occurs in young men. AMN and ALD are two distinct diseases arising from a mutation in the same gene (the ALD gene). Approximately 1/3 of the boys who carry the ALD gene will (if not treated with Lorenzo's oil) develop ALD and die within 1 to 5 years. The remaining 2/3 will develop AMD as young adults. About 1/2 to 2/3 of the mothers will develop AMN in middle age.

So, while ALD has received a lot of publicity and been the subject of much research, AMN research has been largely overlooked. Maximum research award will be $150,000 per year for 2 years. An additional year will be possible with demonstration of satisfactory progress. Preference will be given to projects that are translational/clinical in nature. .

Click here for award guidelines (MS Word Format)

Click here for an application (PDF Format)

The Myelin Project headquarters is in Texas. The Myelin Project includes nine branches located in the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, France and Spain. Inspired by the great projects of the past (eg Project Apollo) which used a motivated time-conscious approach to attain specific goals, the Project has set up a Work Group from among the top international laboratories specialising in myelin repair.

The Work Group includes researchers from:

· Collège de France
· Hopital de la Salpêtrière
· Institute Pasteur, Paris
· Istituto Superiore della Sanità, Rome
· Mayo Clinic
· Max Planck Institute, Germany
· Medical University of South Carolina
· Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York
· Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
· University of Cambridge, UK
· University of North Dakota
· University of Wisconsin, Madison
· Yale University
· Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona

Project resources target clinically oriented experiments on the cutting-edge of remyelination research. Thus far, the Myelin Project has financed 42 experiments for a total in excess of $4.7Million(US). The Myelin Project stands alone in funding the cost of our first human trials, this has proved to be more expensive than first envisaged. Many other researchers are submitting additional experiment proposals for this year. In order to finance the experiments, the Project needs additional funding.