Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Mass General Awards 2024 Drs. Ayeez and Shelena Lalji & Family Student Scholar for Repair and Regenerative Mechanisms in ALS Award to Anushka Sanyal

The Sean. M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital through the generosity of Drs. Shelena and Ayeez Lalji, is delighted to announce that Anushka Sanyal, a Senior at Stanford University in Stanford, California, has been awarded the 2nd annual Drs. Ayeez and Shelena Lalji & Family Student Scholar for Repair and Regenerative Mechanisms in ALS. The prize was presented to Anushka during the 23rd Annual Northeast ALS Consortium (NEALS) Meeting by Dr. Merit Cudkowicz, Director of the Healey & AMG Center for ALS, and Dr. Shelena Lalji.

The award was founded in 2023 in honor of Dr. Ayeez Lalji, who was diagnosed in 2017 and lived bravely and valiantly with ALS. This award aims to recognize the brightest young scientists in the field of ALS, and to facilitate meaningful research to understand the mechanisms underlying axonal and neuronal repair and regeneration in ALS and/or other neurodegenerative disorders that may be translatable to ALS.

“My husband Ayeez and I would like to congratulate Anushka Sanyal and encourage brilliant young people like her to see no obstacles, only opportunities as we approach a world free of ALS,” said Dr. Shelena Lalji. “We want to inspire more young scholars to see the challenge of curing ALS as an achievable goal. The Lalji ALS Award is meant to advocate collaborative efforts between the unobstructed imagination of our young geniuses with the valuable experience of our seasoned scientists. My sweet husband's legacy will live on in this great work!”

Under the supervision of her professor and mentor, Aaron Gitler, Ph.D., Anushka is recognized as the Lalji Student Scholar for her project “A Novel RNA-based Chaperone that Protects Against TDP-43 Toxicity in ALS.” Anushka’s proposal aims to elucidate how intronic RNA lariats alter the properties and toxicity of TDP-43 aggregates, which are the RNA-binding proteins that lead to axon degeneration found in ALS. The results of the project will hopefully suggest a promising avenue for the development of lariat RNA-based therapeutic approaches. Anushka’s project exemplifies innovation and understanding of the fundamental knowledge and technology needed to make strides in the fight against ALS.

“I am incredibly grateful to Drs. Ayeez and Shelena Lalji for their generosity and support of young scientists, as well as Dr. Cudkowicz and the Healey & AMG Center for ALS for their dedication to advancing ALS research. I would also like to thank Dr. Gitler and my lab members for their invaluable mentorship, said Anushka. “Finally, I want to acknowledge the strength and resilience of people living with ALS and their families. I am deeply motivated by the pursuit of understanding and developing therapeutic approaches that can lead to meaningful advancements for those affected by ALS.”

“I offer my sincere congratulations to Anushka, and gratitude to Drs. Ayeez and Shelena Lalji for making this award possible,” said Merit Cudkowicz M.D., MS.c., Director of the Healey & AMG Center, Chair of the Department of Neurology at MGH, and the Julieanne Dorn Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. “It is young scientists like Anushka who are pushing the boundaries of what we thought possible in ALS research and bringing us closer to a cure.”

This award is available to undergraduate, graduate, or summer students focused on studying mechanisms of axonal repair, neuronal repair and regeneration applicable to ALS and/or other neurodegenerative disorders. The students must be conducting research, under the direction of a mentor.

For more information on the Drs. Ayeez and Shelena Lalji & Family Student Scholar for Repair and Regenerative Mechanisms in ALS, please click here. For more information on the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS, please visit our website.

Background on ALS 
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is the most prevalent adult-onset progressive motor neuron disease, affecting approximately 30,000 people in the U.S. and an estimated 500,000 people worldwide. ALS causes the progressive degeneration of motor neurons, resulting in muscle weakness and atrophy. There is an urgent need to understand the biology of ALS and to develop effective therapies. 
 
About the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Mass General 
 At the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Mass General, we are committed to bringing together a global network of scientists, physicians, nurses, foundations, federal agencies, and people living with ALS, their loved ones, and caregivers to accelerate the pace of ALS therapy discovery and development. 

Launched in November 2018, the Healey & AMG Center, under the leadership of Merit Cudkowicz, MD and a Science Advisory Council of international experts, is reimagining how to develop and test the most promising therapies to treat the disease, identify cures and ultimately prevent it. 
 
With dozens of active clinical trials and lab-based research studies in progress right now, we are ushering in a new phase of ALS treatment and care. Together, we will find the cures.