The Awards ceremony was held on 3rd December 2022 in Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center. Dr. Ruby Chen’s team getting the award for their study of a novel therapeutic and diagnostic antibody to combat ALS and related neurodegenerative diseases.

TDP-43 proteinopathies are present in neurodegenerative diseases including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Especially, TDP-43 aggregates are associated with >95% of ALS cases. Currently, there is no cure or treatment for these diseases. The study has demonstrated that misfolded TDP-43 oligomers are neurotoxic and identified them in the brain and spinal cord of ALS patients. They further produced the mouse anti-TDP-43 oligomer-specific monoclonal antibodies (TDP-O antibodies) and validated that one TDP-O antibody, TDP-O9, has therapeutic efficacy in TDP-43 oligomer-injected wild-type mice and TDP-43 transgenic mice. The i.v. injection of the antibody significantly improved motor behavior and reserved motor neurons in the spinal cord. Now, the team is developing the humanized TDP-43 oligomer-specific monoclonal antibody.

Bravo!

Current Research Team (right to left): Dr. Yun-Ru Chen, Dr. Wei-Wei Chang Research assistant, Ms. Shih-Han Huang, PhD candidate Mr. Yuh Shen Lye, and PhD candidate Mr.Jeng-Jung Wu.