NTI has funded a grant to support Queensland Brain Institute research into treatments for motor neurone disease (MND) following its latest charity truck raffle.  

The grant will be awarded to University of Queensland’s Rebecca San Gil to support her work looking at the efficacy of repairing damaged proteins to slow down or stop the impacts of MND.  

Dr San Gil says the proposed research program will utilise “new genetic engineering and imaging techniques to shine the light on a target protein that refolds and disposes of damaged proteins in human neurons”.  

The grant will be awarded as part of the $580,000 raised by NTI’s raffle of a 1954 Chevrolet hot rod pickup truck, named Daphene, which was won by Queenslander Peter Rodney. The funds were allocated to the charity MND & Me Foundation.  

The truck was the sixth vehicle to be raffled by NTI since it began the initiative in honour of former CEO Wayne Patterson, who was diagnosed with the condition in 2015 and died in 2018. NTI has raised more than $2 million in the past six years.  

“This is just one of the MND Research Grants funded from the proceeds of raffling Daphne and it is great to see the impact that the raffle and NTI’s support of MND research can have across a wide range of research areas,” MND and Me Foundation CEO Jane Milne said.   

“MND Research in Queensland is in a very strong position because of NTI and their continued commitment to helping us find a cure.”