NTI announces recipient of motor neurone disease research grant

Logistics and transport specialist insurer NTI will provide Doctor John Lee of The University of Queensland’s School of Biomedical Sciences with a research grant from its fundraising program.

NTI raised the funds earlier this year through record-breaking ticket sales for an Expedition Vehicle, featuring a truck and luxury motorhome. The grant aims to fund research on motor neurone disease (MND), a condition that affects the brain and nerves, resulting in weakness that worsens over time.

Dr. Lee (third person from the left) will receive a research grant from the $555,850 raised by NTI and delivered through the MND and Me Foundation to find answers to “tame the beast that is MND.”

“This grant from NTI will allow me to continue my research on understanding the role of our immune system in driving this fire in the brain and spinal cord of MND patients, which leads to motor neurons dying,” Dr. Lee said. “This research grant will help us to understand this process better so we can put this fire out.”

Read more: NTI welcomes new towing legislation

Dr. Lee said the NTI MND Research Grant for 2023 will enable him to hire a research assistant to undertake the testing of drugs developed by his industry collaborator in mouse models of MND, as well as help examine immune cells from patients with MND.

“From this work, we hope to identify potential new treatments to test in people living with MND,” he said.

NTI CEO Tony Clark said NTI has now raised more than $1.5 million for MND research over the past five years.

“We’re proud to continue supporting research into MND to help find treatments and ultimately a cure for this difficult disease,” he said. “It’s a cause very close to our hearts, with our former CEO Wayne Patterson losing his battle with MND in 2018.”