The Medical Research Council (MRC) has invested £50 million into the study of mitochondrial diseases to improve treatments.
The new MRC Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE) in Mitochondrial Genome Therapeutics brings together leading experts from across disciplines to define how mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cause disease. They will then translate that knowledge into therapies.
No cure currently exists for mitochondrial diseases, a group of genetic disorders that affect around one in 5,000 people, leaving patients and their families facing significant unmet medical needs. Beyond inherited conditions, mtDNA mutations are increasingly linked to: neurodegeneration; metabolic disease; cardiovascular failure; and age-related deterioration. In affected individuals, mitochondrial dysfunction can contribute to severe disability, progressive decline and premature death.
Project lead Professor Michal Minczuk of the University of Cambridge said: “The MRC CoRE will provide pioneering approaches to understanding and treating diseases caused by mutations in the mitochondrial genome. We will be building a long-term UK research platform with the scale, expertise and infrastructure needed to position the UK as a global leader in mitochondrial genome therapeutics. Our goal is to create the scientific foundations that will enable entirely new therapeutic strategies and offer renewed hope to patients and families affected by mitochondrial disease.”
The MRC CoRE – to be led by the University of Cambridge - will harness emerging technologies to engineer the mitochondrial genome delivering advanced models of prevalent pathogenic mtDNA mutations.
Dr Ceri Williams, Executive Director of Challenge Led Themes at MRC, said: “The UK has been at the helm of mitochondrial science, having led on the development of mitochondrial replacement therapy which prevents the inheritance of mtDNA mutations. We are delighted to announce this new MRC CoRE, which builds on these foundations to bring together expertise from around the world and across sectors to make real progress towards understanding the root causes of mtDNA mutations. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to tackle these challenges has the potential to radically transform health research in this field, improving prevention, detection and treatment, boosting outcomes for patients and protecting families affected by the disease.”