St Andrews neuroscientist joins prestigious Young Investigators Programme

Dr Ilary Allodi from the School of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of St Andrews has been awarded a place on the prestigious EMBO Young Investigators programme.

EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation) is an body of more than 2,100 leading researchers and promotes excellence in the life sciences in Europe and beyond.

The organisation supports talented researchers at all stages of their careers, stimulates the exchange of scientific information, and helps build a research environment where scientists can achieve their best work.

Dr Allodi and the other new young investigators will start in January and be part of the programme for four years, carrying out research across a wide range of life sciences topics, from cell and computational biology to immunology and neuroscience.

The Young Investigators Programme (YIP) is highly competitive, only 27 places were awarded in this current intake. In this case it not only applicable to Dr Allodi but also her team in the Neural Circuits of Disease Laboratory (NCDL). The NCDL was formed in 2021 to investigate changes in neural circuits to understand neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr Allodi said: “The programme offers excellent network opportunities to all my lab members. This will allow us to grow scientifically and professionally as a team. The EMBO YIP will not only benefit me but also my team, and they are the core of our science.

“Among previous EMBO YIP members are scientists who I look up to and who have been an inspiration throughout my career, like Silvia Arber and Claire Wyart, so it is an incredible honour to be part of this programme.

“It is a validation of the work we are conducting in the lab and, at the same time, a great motivation to do better and reach further.’

EMBO Director Fiona Watt said: “EMBO welcomes the new young investigators, a group of exceptional scientists who represent innovation and excellence in their fields. The multidisciplinary EMBO Young Investigator Network that they will join generates many opportunities for forming connections. We are delighted to support this next generation of scientific leaders and the collaborations they will form,” says EMBO Director Fiona Watt.

Dr Allodi and her team have a joint focus. One on Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) which is a terminal, progressive disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, unravelling the neural circuits affected in disease, and trying to find indicators for early diagnosis.

The other is Frontotemporal dementia (FTD), a progressive neurodegenerative condition characterised by the degeneration of neurons in the frontal and temporal lobes, and by changes in behaviour, personality and language. ALS and FTD are often found in comorbidity.

The team has made several breakthroughs in these fields, particularly around understanding the connections between inhibitory neurons in the spinal cord and how they lose their connections to motor neurons early in disease.  Basing their ongoing work on a new generation of genetic therapy that can target neurons in the brain and spinal cord efficiently after intravenous administration, their therapy increased motor neuron survival and improved the motor functions in a mouse model of ALS.

There is no effective treatment and the average life expectancy after being diagnosed with ALS is usually short, so the work of Dr Allodi and the work of the NCDL is crucial to finding eventual therapies for the disease.