An online scientific seminar series focused on motor neurone disease (MND) Research. Hear from national experts and emerging leaders in MND research including the latest clinical trials, drug developments, pre-clinical models, discovery research and collaborative platforms. Learn, connect and share with the Australian MND research community.
For enquiries related to the seminar series, please contact: Dr Sarah Bennett
he presentation will provide an overview of our therapeutic antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) program, outlining our lead ASO candidates targeting genes such as SOD1 and Ataxin-2 for the treatment of motor neuron disease. A major challenge in translating these therapeutics to the clinic is the efficient and non-invasive delivery of ASOs to the central nervous system. To address this, we have developed a novel blood-brain barrier (BBB)-penetrant peptide shuttle platform. I will present preclinical data demonstrating the capacity of our BBB shuttle peptides to systemically deliver a range of therapeutic cargoes including ASOs and peptides into the CNS. Our current focus is on applying this platform to enable effective, minimally invasive CNS delivery of neurotherapeutics for MND.
A/Professor Fazel Shabanpoor is a Principal Research Fellow at the Florey Institute, University of Melbourne, and Founder/CSO of Centron Bio Pty Ltd. After completing his PhD in 2010, he received an NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship for postdoctoral training in therapeutic antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Cambridge, UK) and University of Oxford. He returned to Australia in 2014 to establish his laboratory focused on developing therapeutic ASOs and peptides for neurodegenerative diseases. His current work includes the development of a blood-brain barrier-crossing peptide platform for the systemic CNS delivery of peptide and ASO therapeutics for ALS, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and SMA.
The Australian Research Data Commons, March 2025
Dr Anne Hogden, Feb2024