August 5, 2004

Christine Haenggeli, M.D., formerly a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Ann Kato at the Department of Pharmacology, Geneva , Switzerland , has received The Milton Safenowitz Post-Doctoral Fellowship for ALS Research Award. The fellowship, awarded by The ALS Association (ALSA), provides recent graduates the opportunity to work closely with a principal researcher in the field of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The Milton Safenowitz Post-Doctoral Fellowship for ALS Research is made possible through a $1 million grant from Marilyn Safenowitz and the Milton and Marilyn Safenowitz Family Foundation through ALSA’s Greater New York Chapter. It is named in memory of Milton Safenowitz, who died from ALS in 1998. This fellowship provides young post-doctoral students with the unique opportunity to stand at the forefront of ALS research and partner with the best scientific minds in the quest for a cure.

“If we can excite post-doctoral students and encourage them to focus their efforts on the study of ALS, we may have a better chance of understanding this devastating disease,” explained Milton Safenowitz’s wife Marilyn, a Trustee of the Greater New York Chapter.

Several studies have focused on the role of glutamate in disease and in particular have demonstrated that the mechanism for removal of excessive levels of glutamate (molecules on the surface of cells called transporters) is abnormal in patients with ALS. Dr. Haenggeli, currently a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Jeffrey Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins University, will study changes in the survival of mutant SOD1 mice (animals which express symptoms of human ALS) after administering a viral vector containing a glutamate transporter, EAAT2.  EAAT2 is significantly reduced in patients with ALS.  View Dr. Haenggeli’s grant lay summary here.

Dr. Haenggeli recently had the opportunity to join other ALS investigators at an ALSA-sponsored Young Investigator Workshop in San Francisco to share ideas and data with her peers.  Click here to view a report on the workshop.

“As a young scientist starting in the ALS field, it is extremely motivating to receive support and encouragement from an organization that has previously recognized studies from respected research groups,” said Dr. Haenggeli.   “Being able to get feed-back and guidance from ALSA as I initiate a new project that potentially will benefit ALS patients is very helpful.”

For further information about the post-doctoral fellowship program click here.

The ALS Association is the only national not-for-profit voluntary health organization dedicated solely to fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.