Christopher E Shaw Email & Phone Number

I am a Neurologist and Neurogeneticist with >25 year clinical and research experience focussed on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). I am Director of the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neurosciences Institute, King's College London, which houses 250 basic and clinical Neuroscientists and has state-of-the-art research facilities. I am also Director of the UK Dementia Research Institute at King's College London, which is nested within the Wohl Institute.I run a clinic for patients with ALS and FTD, particularly if they have a family history. I am experienced in the genetic counselling for these disorders. I am the Principal Investigator on multiple anti-sense oligonucleotide trials targeting ALS and FTD genes that are Industry-funded.My team has led the discovery of many ALS genes (TARDBP, FUS, C9 locus, TUBA4A, Annexin A11) and contributed to the discovery of 10 others. With funding from the MND Association and Wellcome Trust we established a Biobank of 1,200 lymphoblasts from ALS patients and Controls and have performed whole genome sequencing. We have established a protocol for using lymphoblasts to generate induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells and have characterised 50 lines that are available to Academia and Industry through the MNDA Biobank. We have also generated several transgenic mouse models that recapitulate key phenotypic and pathological features of disease and these are available through Jax Labs. Over the past 5 years we have developed a Gene Therapy programme and launched a spinout company "NeuroGeneUs". The company using AAV to deliver gene supplement and knockdown vectors for FTD and ALS genes. We are on track to begin Phase I/II first in human trials in 2022 and 2023.