Neale Daniher to donate tissue to speed up MND research

TIRELESS MND campaigner and former footballer Neale Daniher hopes others grappling with the condition will donate skin tissue in a bid to accelerate research.

FightMND campaigner Neale Daniher. Picture: DAVID CAIRD

FOOTY legend Neale Daniher will donate his own skin tissue in a world-first fight to find a cure for MND.

The tireless campaigner is hoping to rally other people grappling with the disease to do the same as medical researchers race against time to identify the best drugs for the job.

Daniher will go under the knife on Tuesday alongside fellow FightMND supporter Cath Baker.

“It will be barely a footy scratch,’’ Daniher said. “But it will help us accelerate our aim to find an effective treatment and cure.

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“This offers hope that an effective treatment and cure is not far away but we are indebted to patients to donate.’’

Daniher’s cells will be “reprogrammed’’ in the laboratory and stripped back into stem cells, which can then be developed into motor neurons.

The Daniher family, from left, Loz, Neale, Luke, Jan and Bec. Picture: Tony Gough

Drugs already approved for use on humans will be tested on the cells using a high-speed robot capable of maximising the numbers of cells and drugs that can be screened at a time.

It increases the testing rate by 160 times — increasing potential to save and prolong lives.

The equipment is able to work out which drugs have a positive impact on the MND-affected motor neurons, by robotically applying compounds to cell samples, recording the impact on the health of each of 384 cell samples simultaneously and documenting results for assessment by researchers.

The program is a world-first for MND and reinforces Australia as a leader in MND research.

The screening process will cost $5 million, involving $2 million from FightMND from its mammoth fundraising efforts since the first Big Freeze at the G in 2015 and $3 million from the state government.

— If you are an MND patient and want to register to donate a skin sample, click on the “drug screening platform” tab on the fightmnd homepage.