Five research teams secure funding for frontotemporal dementia studies

The Kissick Family Foundation, in partnership with the Milken Institute Science Philanthropy's Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC), today announced five research teams selected to receive a total of $2.5 million through the third funding cycle of the Kissick Family Foundation Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) Grant Program. The partners also launched the program's fourth funding cycle and are now accepting research proposals. Through this program, the Kissick Family Foundation is investing in research that accelerates foundational discoveries, advances novel treatment options, and ultimately improves outcomes for people living with sporadic FTD. 

The grant program has selected the following researchers to receive funding, subject to the execution of the relevant grant agreements:

• Institution: University of California, San Francisco 

Principal investigator: William W. Seeley, MD 

Co-investigator: Alex Pollen, PhD 

Project: Probing neuron type-specific vulnerability to reveal upstream FTLD-TDP pathogenesis 

• Institution: University of Pennsylvania 

Principal investigator: Michael Guo, MD, PhD 

Co-investigators: Michael Haney, PhD; Hong Xu, PhD 

Project: Decoding somatic genome instability as a driver of selective neuronal vulnerability in FTD 

• Institution: Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School 

Principal investigator: Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne, MD, PhD 

Co-investigator: Liron Bar-Peled, PhD 

Project: Chemical proteomics to establish a pan-FTD DrugMap 

• Institution: Ulm University 

Principal investigator: Jochen Weishaupt, MD

Co-investigators: Luc Dupuis, PhD, INSERM; Lena Voith von Voithenberg, PhD, German Cancer Research Center 

Project: Genetic mosaics: The dark matter of FTD pathogenesis 

• Institution: University of California, San Francisco 

Principal investigator: Jennifer Yokoyama, PhD 

Project: Interferon-driven gene IFI44L as a powerful modifier of sporadic FTD disease trajectory 

Together, these projects represent diverse approaches to understanding why FTD develops and progresses differently across individuals. They aim to uncover new biomarkers and therapeutic targets while expanding the scientific foundation for developing more effective treatments. This third cohort joins the research teams supported through the program's first two funding cycles.

The Kissick Family Foundation and SPARC have also opened the program's fourth funding cycle, inviting independent researchers whose work is applicable to FTD to review the request for proposals. Letters of intent will be accepted through November 4, 2026. Individual researchers may receive up to $500,000 over two years, inclusive of indirect costs, with awardees expected to be notified in mid-2027. 

FTD is a complex disease, and we believe getting to treatments and cures will require scientists across disciplines coming together. We're proud to support so many incredible research teams around the world and, more importantly, to have helped build a community where researchers can share ideas and build on one another's successes and failures to move the field forward faster. While it's too late for my dad, who passed away from FTD in 2024, this work gives us hope that we're on the cusp of discoveries that will change the outlook for all the other families affected by this disease."

Kasey Kissick Duarte, co-president, Kissick Family Foundation 

The Kissick Family Foundation's partnership with SPARC began in 2022 with an analysis of the FTD research and funding landscape. That work informed the Milken Institute's November 2023 report, Frontotemporal Dementia: A Giving Smarter Guide, which identified opportunities for focused philanthropic investment to accelerate scientific progress and enrich the FTD research ecosystem.

The grant program was created to put those findings into action, with a particular focus on sporadic FTD-an area in which researchers still face significant gaps in understanding disease biology, identifying reliable biomarkers, and developing effective treatments.

"Neurodegenerative diseases like FTD can be devastating for people living with the disorders and for their families, who deserve tailored treatments, clearer diagnostic journeys, and improved outlooks," said Sylvie Raver, PhD, managing director of SPARC. "At SPARC, we believe that philanthropic investment is a critical tool to advance these outcomes, through supporting communities of scientists and clinicians conducting high-risk, early-stage research that serves as the foundation for new breakthroughs. Grant programs like these are invaluable for under-resourced fields of study like FTD."