Five talented young scientists dedicated to advancing our understanding of ALS and the search for new treatments have been selected as Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellows.
Established in 2004 in memory of Milton Safenowitz by the Safenowitz family, this well-respected program encourages early-career researchers to enter and importantly remain in the ALS field. After completing this fellowship, more than 75% of awardees stay in ALS research, with many going on to establish their own laboratories and mentor more ALS researchers along the way.
Postdoctoral researchers Zoé Butti, Ph.D., at the New York Genome Center; Graciana de Azambuja, Ph.D., at Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie (VIB, Flanders Institute for Biotechnology); Marjorie Metzger, Ph.D., at Trinity College Dublin; Avijite Kumer Sarkar, Ph.D., at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; and Shuxian Zhang, Ph.D., at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, were selected from a highly competitive group of applicants based on their professional accomplishments and the high scientific merit of their proposals. They will each receive $150,000 over the next two years to support their research projects and continued development as ALS researchers.
About the Fellows
Dr. Zoé Butti
Dr. Butti earned a Ph.D. in biology and genetics under the mentorship of Dr. Kessen Patten at the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique in Laval, Québec, Canada. Now a member of the Phatnani Lab at the New York Genome Center, she is working to gain a “big picture” understanding of how the abnormal protein clumps found in about 97% of people with ALS, known as TDP-43 aggregates, affect cells in the brain and spinal cord. The hope is that this research could help identify different types or subgroups of ALS that might need different treatments.
“The Milton Safenowitz Fellowship provides the opportunity to undertake a major mapping project that will be useful for the ALS community and help shape ALS research. I hope my work can open up avenues for discussions with colleagues at other institutions, allowing me to build new professional relationships and potential collaborations,” she said.
Learn more about Dr. Butti’s research
Dr. Graciana de Azambuja
Dr. de Azambuja earned a Ph.D. in the science of exercise, nutrition, and metabolism from the University of Campinas in Brazil before joining Professor Sandrine Da Cruz’s group at the VIB/KU Leuven Center for Brain and Disease Research in Flanders, Belgium, to focus on ALS. Dr. de Azambuja wants to discover more about the underlying mechanisms driving the disease to help find new treatments. The goal of her postdoctoral project is to look deeper into the initial signals that trigger the loss of connectivity between motor neurons and muscles, specifically focusing on two new proteins recently identified in her lab.
“This fellowship will allow me to establish and develop my research ideas and learn more about the disease. This brings more knowledge and greater possibilities for us to develop treatments and seek a cure for ALS,” she said.
Learn more about Dr. de Azambuja’s research
Dr. Marjorie Metzger
Dr. Metzger has always been fascinated by the brain and began her research career studying brain mapping in simpler organisms, such as flies, to visualize and understand neuron networks. She then began to engage in more applied research, where she could study neurological disorders, and earned a Ph.D. in clinical medicine from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. As a Safenowitz Fellow, Dr. Metzger is building on work she began during her graduate training with Dr. Bahman Nasseroleslami and Prof. Orla Hardiman, which is investigating the impact neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) have on brain activity using electroencephalograms (EEGs), a test that measures electrical activity in the brain.
An enhanced understanding of the underlying mechanisms and variations in these diseases will further support the development of effective, individualized treatments, bringing us closer to making ALS and PLS manageable conditions,” she said.
Learn more about Dr. Metzger’s research
Dr. Avijite Kumer Sarkar
Dr. Sarkar, who began his career as a general dentist, earned a Ph.D. from Showa University in Tokyo, Japan. He pivoted to ALS research after witnessing the disease’s devastating impact on several of his patients as well as a close family member. Now as a member of the Guo Laboratory at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, he is working to identify potentially protective mechanisms that have helped some people who have inherited a FUS mutation remain unaffected by ALS.
“The discovery of unaffected mutation carriers who defy the disease even beyond their 60s suggests that there are inherent protective mechanisms at play. By identifying and understanding these mechanisms, we can develop targeted therapies that could transform ALS from a terminal diagnosis into a manageable condition,” he said.
Learn more about Dr. Sarkar’s research
Dr. Shuxian Zhang
Dr. Zhang earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology before joining Dr. Shuying Sun’s lab at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. For her funded project, she plans to use a cutting-edge genetic screening technology to identify genetic modifiers that can affect the toxicity that develops when nuclear clearance of TDP-43 stops this important protein from performing its healthy function.
“The horror of the disease is that we don't know it well enough. But with the continuous efforts of research, we are constantly deepening our understanding, bringing more opportunities for therapy development,” she said.
Learn more about Dr. Zhang’s research
Thanks to the ongoing generosity of the Safenowitz family and the support of our community, more than 100 young scientists from around the world have had the opportunity to establish themselves as part of the ALS research community, helping accelerate progress toward making ALS livable for everyone, everywhere.
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Comments
Very encouraging but is the award confined to only scientists? I have a PhD in Business Administration ( with a thesis that researched on Health Issues and Nigerian Health Workers)
Hello Oremodu,
The Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship Program is for junior postdoctoral researchers who received their terminal research degree (i.e., Ph.D.) and/or reached the end of postgraduate clinical training less than 2 years before the date letters of intent are due are eligible to apply. Applicants can be completing their research training anywhere in the world.
To learn more, go to https://www.als.org/research/research-we-fund/fellowships/milton-safeno….
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