The Live Like Lou Foundation is proud to announce Dr. Zevik Melamed, Principal Investigator and head of the Laboratory of Molecular and Translational Neuroscience at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as the 2025 recipient of the Live Like Lou Career Development Award. This prestigious award supports early-career scientists conducting innovative research on neurodegenerative diseases to find treatments and a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Designed to encourage and expand the number of researchers focusing on ALS, the Live Like Lou Career Development Award provides up to $100,000 per year for two years to tenure-track investigators within five years of launching their own independent laboratories.

Dr. Melamed’s project, titled “Uncover Molecular Determinants of ALS Pathology Using Synthetic Promoter Screening,” explores one of the most important questions in ALS: what makes nerve cells so vulnerable to the disease? His work uses cutting-edge biological techniques to uncover the molecular changes that damage neurons and to explore how they can be potentially prevented.

In almost everyone with ALS, a protein called TDP-43 ends up in the wrong place inside cells. Instead of staying in the nucleus (where it helps control genes), it moves outside and disrupts how the cell functions. This misplacement is believed to play a key role in how ALS develops.

“A defining feature of ALS and FTD is the mislocalization of the RNA-binding protein TDP-43, which accumulates in the cytoplasm and is depleted from the nucleus in [around] 95% of patients,” said Dr.Melamed.  

To study this, Dr. Melamed will use a new high-speed technology called SPECS (Synthetic Promoters with Enhanced Cell-state Specificity) to identify which gene systems begin to change as ALS progresses. Understanding these early shifts could reveal the best points for early intervention before motor neurons die and irreversible damage occurs.

This approach could represent a paradigm shift in how scientists design treatments for ALS, moving from symptom management to cell-intrinsic, adaptive therapies that respond in real time to early signs of cellular distress.

“By understanding how TDP-43 alters gene activity and by creating neurons that are programmable units, capable of activating their own defenses, this work will provide new insight into the earliest events that cause motor neuron death and open a new path toward precision targeting treatments for ALS and related disorders,” shared Dr. Melamed.

“Dr. Melamed’s research exemplifies the kind of mechanism-driven science that has the potential to change the ALS landscape,” said Live Like Lou Scientific Director, Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD. “By focusing on the earliest molecular events that lead to motor neuron vulnerability, this work targets the root of the disease rather than its downstream consequences. It is precisely this level of innovation and rigor that the Live Like Lou Career Development Award is designed to support.”

Through the Career Development Award, Live Like Lou continues its commitment to stimulate ALS research and invest in early-career scientists.   ‍

“Supporting brilliant, early-career thinkers like Dr. Melamed is essential to driving breakthroughs that will one day find treatments or a cure for ALS,” said Live Like Lou Executive Director Wendy Faust.  “His work highlights how imagination and rigor come together to push the boundaries of what’s possible.”

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