Motor Neuron Disease (MND) Research

The Impact of Our Research

Since our formation in 2017, we have invested almost £8 million in a portfolio of targeted MND research to expedite the development of new treatments. We have catalysed national collaborations, worked in partnership to influence Government and pooled our funding with others to generate greater impact in our priority research areas.

In just five years, we’ve made a significant impact on the MND research landscape and have rapidly established ourselves as a credible and trusted research charity.

How our funding has helped to Expedite New Treatments

Driving Forward New Treatments

Case Study: King’s College London

We have invested in the development of a diverse range of potential treatments including repurposed drugs, cell and gene therapies. By supporting many different approaches, we believe there’s more chance of us finding those that will ultimately be effective for people living with MND.

“My Name’5 Doddie Foundation was the first funder to believe in our novel therapeutic approach. They funded our early work to develop a gene therapy treatment to reduce the toxic build-up of a protein called TDP-43 in the motor neurons of people with MND. The funding enabled us to both develop this therapy and pioneer a new method for its effective delivery to motor neurons. We are now testing whether we can develop this as a single injection to provide lifelong protection against TDP-43 toxicity.”
Professor Chris Shaw - King's College London

Case Study: MND-SMART

Due in part to our funding, more people with MND in the UK than ever before can now access a clinical trial. By supporting trial staff across the UK, more sites are now gaining expertise in running clinical trials in MND, ensuring continued opportunities for participation in research in the future.

"My Name’5 Doddie Foundation’s support for MND trials has already been catalytic for change. Specifically, the far-sighted support for the MND-SMART trial has been transformative for people living with MND across the UK. MND-SMART has broken new ground as the largest ever trial for MND in the UK, with over 17 sites open and more coming, and almost 500 participants enrolled. Funding from the Foundation has been used to support staff at new trial centres, enabling us to broaden access to areas of the UK that have previously not been able to run MND clinical trials."
Judy Newton, National MND Nurse Consultant for Scotland / University of Edinburgh

Accelerating Progress Together

Case Study: United to End MND

We are committed to keeping MND at the forefront of the political agenda. To achieve this, we have played an integral role in the United to End MND campaign, which led to the promise of a £50m investment from the UK government for targeted MND research.

“My Name’5 Doddie Foundation has been a driving force behind the United to End MND campaign. By joining together MND charities, people living with MND and researchers, we have created a unique partnership that has successfully lobbied government to commit transformational funding for MND research. This is just the start, we will continue to ensure MND research gets the long-term funding it needs to bring new treatments to people like me, faster.”
Dave Setters - Living with MND

To see more examples of our impact so far, check out the impact section of our Research Strategy: Catalysing a Cure.

Research we are currently funding

We’ve produced these handy infographics that explain the research we are currently funding without using lengthy scientific words. Click on a picture to hear more about the project. We are always updating this page with new research so please keep checking back.