Martina Hallegger

My most recent position was as the MND Association Lady Edith Wolfson Senior Non-Clinical Fellow at the Institute of Neurology, UCL and the Francis Crick Institute, and I now hold an additional Senior Research Fellow position at the UK Dementia Research Institute at King’s College London. During my PhD at the University of Vienna, and subsequently during a Post-doctoral post in Department of Biochemistry in Cambridge I developed a strong background in molecular and RNA biology and global transcriptome analysis. My main objectives were to uncover how our genetic information is amplified by combinatorial mechanisms called ‘alternative splicing’ and ‘RNA editing’.  At the University of Oxford I explored how non-coding RNAs shape cell function, particularly in neurons affected in Parkinson’s disease.

My current research investigates how deregulated RNA metabolism contributes to the earliest events in the molecular pathogenesis of motor neurone disease (MND) and how we can modulate this for therapeutic interventions. By applying high-throughput methods like iCLIP (cross-linking Immuno-precipitation), RNAseq and proteomics, I investigate the central role of RNA-protein condensates in MND. The concentration of biopolymers via condensation is fundamental to cellular organisation and physiology, and my research focusses on its effect on gene regulation. I am particularly interested how the altered condensation properties of the RNA-binding protein TDP-43, which is central to MND pathology, contribute to altered RNA metabolism in cell lines and in vitro.

Co-I on MND Association Biomedical Research Grant, DRI at KCL: 2022 to 2025

MND Association Lady Edith Wolfson Senior Non-Clinical Fellowship: 2016 to 2020

Fulford Junior Research Fellowship at Somerville College, Oxford: 2012 to 2014

Parkinson’s UK Innovation grant: 2012 to 2014

OSCI seed funding award (Co-applicant): 2011 to 2012