¾«¶«´«Ã½

In the labs at the ¾«¶«´«Ã½ of ¾«¶«´«Ã½ (UOW), researchers pull at every thread, determined to untangle the catalyst behind, and discover treatments for, this cruel disease.

For three UOW scientists, the journey to pursue this complicated but crucial field of research is deeply personal. Together, , , and form a powerful alliance, each shaped by their own journey but united by a singular goal – to unlock the secrets of motor neurone disease (MND) and bring hope to those affected.

Today, Dr McAlary, Dr Chisholm, and Dr Lum, are chatting animatedly around a table, colleagues but also clearly friends. They are deeply supportive, singing each other’s praises and discussing their research breakthroughs.

The road has been tough for this trio, members of the Yerbury Lab – a group named for the mentor who inspired their work. Two years ago, Professor Justin Yerbury passed away after his own battle with MND, the disease to which he had devoted his life’s work.

Continuing to pursue MND research following Professor Yerbury’s death was, at times, difficult for the trio, each of whom are early and mid-career researchers still establishing themselves within the field of medical research.

But their desire to carry on Professor Yerbury’s work far outweighs the challenges they have faced.

It was Professor Yerbury, after all, who inspired each of them to begin down the road to unravelling the secrets of MND.

Dr Christen Chisholm

After undertaking a Bachelor of Biotechnology at UOW, Dr Christen Chisholm spent two decades working as a science teacher in Illawarra high schools. In 2018, she had taken some time off with her young family to travel around Australia.

Dr Chisholm had been friends with the Yerburys – Justin and his wife Rachel – for many years, and it was Justin who inspired her to return to research.

“I had no intention of leaving teaching until I realised Justin would need support in the lab. He had just had the life-saving mechanical ventilation surgery and was determined to continue his research. I wanted to help him,” she says.

“I was friends with Justin and Rachel for many years and saw what he went through when his mum, sister and aunt passed away from MND, all within a short period of time. Justin encouraged me to come and start a PhD in his lab. He knew I had the science background and believed that I could do it.

“It was a lot. I had three young children and had been at the top of the ladder as a teacher. That was the world I knew. I was starting over and starting at the bottom as a PhD candidate, earning very little money. It was a huge change for me.

“Justin chose to continue his life even though he would be completely paralysed and unable to speak because he believed he could still contribute to finding a cure for this disease. That courage was what inspired me to start again.” 

Dr Christen Chisholm 

She found a mentor in Professor Yerbury, who was one of her PhD supervisors. But the path to completing her PhD has not been without challenges. When Professor Yerbury passed away, Dr Chisholm lost a PhD supervisor, but also a long-time friend.

Dr Chisholm has just graduated from UOW with her PhD, which focused on targeting toxic misfolding proteins and designing a new antibody-based therapeutic tool for MND patients. Both Dr McAlary and Dr Lum describe Dr Chisholm’s research as “extremely impressive” and are proud of all she has accomplished while juggling family life and navigating the intricacies of a PhD.

“Christen has just returned from presenting at a conference in Germany,” Dr McAlary says. “She was invited to attend and to present her MND research, which is a huge honour for an early career researcher, and a reflection of the calibre of her work.”

“The world of science research is so much harder than I thought it would be,” says Dr Chisholm, who is now an Associate Research Fellow in the Yerbury Lab, based in UOW’s Molecular Horizons. “I had a secure role as a teacher, but here I go from contract to contract and at this moment, I am not sure if I will have a job next year. Research can be very insecure. That is really tough, particularly for up-and-coming researchers.

"I wouldn’t change it, I love what I am doing and feel very proud to be working in MND."

“When we lost Justin, it was incredibly hard for so many reasons. I lost a friend and a supervisor, so I felt quite lost in many ways. Luke and Jeremy both stepped up enormously. They stepped into his role as a supervisor and helped me to finish my PhD. I don’t think I would have been able to do so without their support. They are both incredibly humble researchers, but what they have achieved in pushing the lab’s research forward and supporting everyone around them is a huge achievement.

“You can’t walk away,” Dr Chisholm says, when asked what has kept her motivated during the tough times. “When you watch someone put their whole lives in trying to find answers, how do you walk away?

"There are very few times in your life when you make a choice based on the pure principle of what you have to do for someone else.”

Dr Luke McAlary

As a young man, Dr McAlary aspired to become a pilot, but his ambitions were grounded by the discovery that he was colour blind - a condition that not only closed the door but also sparked a deep curiosity about the genetics that shape our lives.

“I have colour blindness so I couldn’t become a pilot,” he says. “The colour blindness is caused by a genetic mutation on my X chromosome, so I thought, if I ever want to understand mutations and fix this sort of thing, I should become a biologist.

“I enjoyed biology and science at school, but once I came to UOW in my undergraduate degree, and started to research genetic mutations, I realise that mine was quite benign and unimportant in terms of the damage it caused. There are much more sinister mutations that people interact with on a daily basis.”

This discovery ultimately led Dr McAlary to the field of neurodegenerative diseases. Professor Yerbury was looking for a researcher to investigate mutations to the SOD1 (superoxide dismutase) protein, an enzyme that plays a crucial role in protecting cells from oxidative damage. Mutations in SOD1 have been linked to MND. It was exactly the research direction that Dr McAlary had been searching for.

Dr Luke McAlary“I began my honours project working with Justin in 2011 and then continued with my PhD in the same field. As soon as I finished my PhD, Justin was diagnosed with MND and I was offered a role in Canada to go and work on MND research over there,” he says.

“But when that two-year opportunity ended, the group I was working for asked me to stay, but Justin also asked me to come back. Even though the role in Canada was more lucrative and a higher position, I wanted to work with Justin so I moved back to Australia.

“I have been working in the Yerbury Lab ever since, side by side with Justin while I could.”

Driven by this personal connection to genetics, McAlary established himself as a dedicated researcher in the field of MND, focusing on the molecular mechanisms that underpin the disease. His work has centred on understanding how protein misfolding and aggregation contribute to the progression of MND, with the aim of developing new methods to alleviate or even cure the condition. Dr McAlary’s expertise has been recognised through prestigious fellowships and his involvement in cutting-edge research projects.

Following the passing of Professor Yerbury, McAlary stepped into a leadership role within the Yerbury Lab. The transition was not without its challenges; the loss of a mentor and visionary like Professor Yerbury left a profound void. Yet, Dr McAlary has become a source of strength and stability for the team, helping to oversee ongoing research and supporting colleagues through a period of profound change. His resilience and commitment have helped to sustain the lab’s momentum, ensuring that Professor Yerbury’s legacy of scientific excellence and compassion continues to inspire the next generation of researchers.

“Justin’s drive and passion kept me involved on this journey,” Dr McAlary said.

“Each of us could have made other choices at any point, we could have done something else, but we made these decisions to keep going. It’s what links us all together."

"We work well as a triumvirate, as a team, all of us contributing hard work, knowledge, and help to each other.”

Dr Jeremy Lum

“I wasn’t very good at school,” Dr Jeremy Lum says with a laugh. His journey into the world of MND research is a testament to the unpredictable paths that can lead to scientific discovery. As a teenager, Dr Lum wasn’t overly interested in reading textbooks and studying for exams. He was more focused on playing sport and going to the beach, which luckily was 200 metres down the road from his local high school he says. Academic achievement seemed out of reach, and he was far from the image of a model academic student.

“I barely made it over the line and was pretty lucky to get into uni,” he says.

But something clicked with the university experience. After completing a Bachelor of Medical and Health Science, Dr Lum undertook his PhD in neuroscience with Professor Kelly Newell at UOW.

“A childhood friend of mine had been diagnosed with schizophrenia around the same time, and it led me to neuropharmacology. Then one day, out of the blue, I got an email from Justin asking if I wanted to join his lab. It was small in those days. It was only Luke, Christen, Justin, and Natalie [Farrawell, Senior Research Assistant in the Yerbury Lab], who I had just started dating at the time. I had to tell Justin about Nat and I and he was fine with it, so I joined his lab.”

Dr Jeremy Lum

Driven by a newfound sense of purpose, Dr Lum immersed himself in scientific research, determined to make a difference in a field desperately in need of answers. The boy who wasn’t very good at school is now an established and highly regarded researcher, who holds the Bill Gole MND Fellowship, the same Fellowship Professor Yerbury held earlier in his career. Dr Lum is now putting his knowledge of neuropharmacology to the test in attacking MND.

Dr Lum is the lead investigator on a project which earlier this year discovered that a unique trio of medications could hold the key to improved treatment outcomes for hereditary cases of MND, caused by mutations in the SOD1 protein. The aim was to repair damaged SOD1 protein, prevent harmful SOD1 clumps from forming, and protect dying motor neurons.

Throughout the ups and downs of the past few years, Dr Lum has been driven by a sense of purpose and responsibility for carrying on Professor Yerbury’s work.

Like Professor Yerbury, Dr Lum is motivated by the urgent need for a cure, and by the belief that breakthroughs often come from those who refuse to give up, no matter how unlikely their beginnings.

“I found the initial stages really tough,” he says. “I remember talking to other researchers, to Associate Professor Kara Vine-Perrow, Professor Martina Sanderson-Smith and Professor Darren Saunders [Professor Yerbury’s friends and colleagues] and asking them, ‘Didn’t Justin leave a blueprint for us? Is there a folder somewhere that has all the information for how we are meant to navigate this?’. Kara told me ‘Justin would have just wanted you to have fun in the lab, to enjoy science, explore your scientific curiosity and keep moving forward with your research’.

“But we soon realised that Justin had set us up with a really good foundation. We had all the tools, some funding, and the knowledge to move forward. Once we understood that, it became a lot easier to take it one step at a time.”