SITraN team take on the Big Walk
A team of SITraN researchers are taking a break from the lab to show their support for the Big Walk.
Emma, Abbey, Monika, Kamallia and Chloe are all taking on the Big Walk because they know how crucial fundraising is for their research.
We are a group of research assistants, PhD students and post-docs supervised by Professor Guillaume Hautbergue, (he’s doing the walk with us too!) working on neurodegenerative disease.
Our lab aims to understand the mechanisms of various neurodegenerative diseases, including motor neuron disease, with a specific focus on RNA. We then hope to translate our findings into designing new treatments against these diseases.
I am using a technique known as optogenetics, in which light is used to control proteins, to model protein clumping in motor neuron disease. I am hoping to understand how these clumps of protein are produced, with the ultimate goal of preventing their formation.
Research is incredibly expensive, so fundraising activities or events like the Big Walk really do make a difference to our work.”
Emma
We’re really excited to be taking on the challenge of the Big Walk this year, although maybe a little daunted by the distance! We all really love the peaks though and it will be such a great thing to do as a team. We’re looking forward to the challenge!”
Chloe
Sheffield researchers are working tirelessly to find a cure for this debilitating condition. Their ongoing research hopes to discover more effective treatments to improve the lives of patients living with the disease.
With your support, a much needed breakthrough in MND will come sooner, improving the lives of patients long into the future.
Will you support Sheffield researchers with a gift today?
About the appeal
MND affects around 5,000 people in the UK every year. It kills six people in the UK every day, with a third of those diagnosed losing their lives within just a year. Tragically, people die from this devastating disease because there are currently no treatments that can stop it. But there's hope.
Your gift in support of motor neurone disease research will make a difference now. It will support our researchers at SITraN to develop treatments and advances that positively impact the lives of patients and their families.
SITraN has demonstrated that having clinicians and researchers working alongside each other, taking what they learn in the labs straight to patients, really works. But in part due to its great success, the facility is facing chronic pressures for space and is operating beyond capacity, delaying advancements.
Now, a world-class sister facility will be built alongside SITraN that will double capacity, grow research and drug discovery programmes, and build on promising areas such as cell and gene therapy.
We know that SITraN’s next chapter will be written in part thanks to our incredible supporter community.
Will you help to write the next chapter for SITraN?