Bahar Kavyani, Ananda Staats Pires, Shivani Krishnamurthy, Asma Oummadi and Mahsa Vaez Zadeh from the Neuroinflammation group at the Macquarie University Centre for Motor Neuron Disease Research, share why they are doing the #1504forMND challenge.
The vision of our Centre is to improve and provide high standards of medical research and clinical practice for (Motor Neuron Disease) MND.
The centre is immensely grateful for the philanthropic support. Given the importance of these donations in supporting our various research projects, we actively participate in raising money and awareness to support MND research and patients.
One of the fundraising activities supported by our centre is The Firies Climb for MND, which has raised over $3 million dollars since 2015 to help find a cure for MND. In the past, hundreds of firefighters raised money for MND by climbing the 1,504 steps of Sydney Tower Eye wearing 20kg of gear. Professor Guillemin, the Head of the Neuroinflammation group, climbed with them in 2018. But because of COVID-19, a new fundraising format has been introduced, where everyone can do their own 1504 to support MND research, by participating in any physical challenge that relates to the number 1,504.
Our group (The Guillemin-Neuroinflammation group) has several research projects focusing on MND. These projects are aimed at
- identifying blood biomarkers for disease progression and response to treatment
- investigating environmental factors as potential etiological agents for ALS (such as biotoxins, pesticides) and
- developing new therapeutic strategies in collaboration with drug companies.
This year we have taken up the #1504forMND challenge. We are committed to walk 15.04km everyday to support this fundraising event. As young researchers in this field, we are truly acquainted with the burden of the disease, and to the suffering MND patients and their families, therefor it is our priority to do everything in our power toward alleviating these patients’ and their family’s sufferance. We remind ourselves and others of the importance of MND research to help these patients by taking steps every day.
We hope for a world without MND! We appreciate your support and donations to our page.
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