ALS Therapy Development Institute

Our ALS Drug Discovery Labs

Our labs exists to discover life-changing treatments for everyone with ALS. Explore where our innovative research happens and the hard working people behind the science.

If you are ever in the Boston area, we would love to meet you! Schedule a lab tour here.

Our ALS Drug Discovery Labs

Our labs exists to discover life-changing treatments for everyone with ALS. Explore where our innovative research happens and the hard working people behind the science.

If you are ever in the Boston area, we would love to meet you! Schedule a lab tour here.

An All-Encompassing Institute

Our labs focus on each step of ALS preclinical drug discovery so that we can identify potential ALS treatments and partner with companies to advance them into clinical trials.

Watch our video lab tour to meet some of our team and virtually walk through the labs.

My wife and I did not know what to expect when we arrived for a tour of the lab, but by the time we were done we were deeply impressed by their level of technology and commitment to solving the scourge of ALS. I am convinced that ALS TDI will find new treatments for people like me who are battling this disease.”

— Chris Mullholland, living with ALS

Explore Our Labs

To learn more about the research we conduct, click below to learn more about our different labs.

Animal Care Facility

When we or other labs find promising leads in cells or other systems, we move them to the next stage of testing in the Animal Care Facility.

Testing in animal models is an important part of the drug discovery process, because animals’ complex physiology can do a better job than cells of showing how a drug may behave if delivered to humans.

ALS Research Collaborative Study Suite

In the ALS Research Collaborative (ARC) Suite, scientists focus on gathering and analyzing the comprehensive data that are contributed by thousands of people with ALS through the ARC study.

These data are used internally at ALS TDI, and shared with researchers around the world, to increase our understanding of ALS and advance research to find treatments.

Automated Drug Screening

When we determine a type of experiment is important enough to expand testing, it is moved to the Automated Drug Screening Suite.

In this room, ALS TDI's “Cor2D2” robotics screening platform performs automated experiments according to methods created by our scientists. Our automated robots can conduct very large and complicated experiments, much faster than a human could.

Core Facilities

In ALS TDI's Core Facilities, scientists analyze samples from our cell and animal experiments, as well as from people with ALS who participate in the ARC study.

Here our scientists can analyze the samples to determine how effective a potential treatment was, and whether it should move forward for further testing.

Liz Bodine Discovery Biology Suite

In this area, our science team focuses on specific important areas of ALS biology including SOD1 mutation biology, C9orf72 biology, and more.

Here, we use animal-derived cell lines to model ALS and discover new therapeutic targets.

Augie's Quest Translational Research Center

The first stage of drug discovery often begins here in the Augie's Quest Translational Research Center. Here scientists try to learn more about ALS by differentiating iPS cells into cell types that are important in ALS, like motor neurons.

When the cell experiments are completed, samples from the experiments are often taken to other areas in the lab for additional studies.

Microscopy Suite

In the Microscopy Suite, ALS TDI scientists use high powered microscopes to see important biological processes involved in ALS and in ALS treatment.

Here, our science team focuses on analyzing tissue samples to learn more about ALS and see the impact of potential treatments.

Tissue Bank Area

In this area, we store tissue samples that our scientists use when performing pharmacology studies.

These samples are taken to and from the Core Facilities and the Microscopy Suite where our scientists use high-resolution microscopes to study healthy, diseased, and treated diseased tissues.

Our multidisciplinary labs are located in Watertown, MA.

They are open to the community. Come visit us by scheduling a lab tour.

Schedule a Lab Tour

Our multidisciplinary labs are located in Watertown, MA.

They are open to the community. Come visit us by scheduling a lab tour.

Schedule a Lab Tour

Meet Our Science Leadership

Fernando Vieira, M.D.

Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer

Fernando G. Vieira, M.D. is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer at the ALS Therapy Develo...
Kyle Denton, Ph.D.

Director, Cell Biology

Dr. Kyle Denton joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2016. He is currently working on establishing ...
Theo Hatzipetros, Ph.D

Senior Director of Pharmacology

Dr. Theo Hatzipetros joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2011. He is an in vivo pharmacologist who...
Alan Gill, Ph.D.

Vice President of Research

Dr. Alan Gill joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2007. He is an experienced pharmacologist/physio...

Meet Our Researchers

Josh Berman

Associate Scientist II

Josh Berman joined ALS Therapy Development Institute in October 2019. He works in the ALS Research Collaborative, processing patient blood samples as they ...
Anushka Bhargava, Ph.D.

Scientist II

Anushka Bhargava joined ALS Therapy Development Institute in October 2022 to work with the Translational Research team as a Scientist I. She will be involv...
Therese Dane

Senior Associate Scientist

Therese joined ALS TDI in March 2015 to work on the ALS Research Collaborative. She grew and banked fibroblast cells derived from patient skin biopsies, an...
Kyle Denton, Ph.D.

Director, Cell Biology

Dr. Kyle Denton joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2016. He is currently working on establishing high-throughput methods for generating neural...
Matt Ferola

Research Associate

Matt Ferola joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2003. Having lost his grandmother's cousin to ALS, Matt has been a dedicated member of the anim...
Erin Geraghty

Clinical Administrative Assistant

Erin Geraghty Kapoor joined ALS TDI in 2022. She is a clinical administrative assistant for the ALS Research Collaborative. Erin received her B.A. in Bio...
Anna Gill

Associate Scientist III, Program Manager

Anna Gill joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2015 as a part-time research intern, and is now Program Manager of ALS TDI's Discovery Biology gr...
Cindy Gill

Senior Associate Scientist

Cindy Gill joined ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2008. Cindy received an undergraduate degree in Biology from Simmons College and spent 15 years in R...
Alan Gill, Ph.D.

Vice President of Research

Dr. Alan Gill joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2007. He is an experienced pharmacologist/physiologist with a thorough understanding of pract...
Swetha Gurumurthy

Associate Scientist I

Swetha Gurumurthy joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2022. She is an Associate Scientist I and is a part of the research team investigating th...
Theo Hatzipetros, Ph.D

Senior Director of Pharmacology

Dr. Theo Hatzipetros joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2011. He is an in vivo pharmacologist who specializes in the field of neurodegeneratio...
Josh Kidd

Senior Research Associate

Joshua D. Kidd joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2004. As a Research Associate, his job primarily involves studying the behavioral effects of...
Beth Levine

Clinical Coordinator

Beth Levine joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2007. Beth brings 20 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience to ALS Therapy Develo...
Carlos Maya

Senior Animal Care Technician

Carlos joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2005. Carlos is an animal technician on the science team. He has worked with animals since he was a ...
Amit Mishra

Associate Scientist II, Automation

Amit Mishra joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2022. He currently works with iPSCs and patient fibroblasts to model ALS and characterize ALS-c...
Andy Moreno

Research Associate III

Andy Moreno joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2002. At the Institute Andy is responsible for executing experimental drug studies in animal m...
Kaly Mueller

Senior Associate Scientist

Kaly Mueller joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2018 after spending four years at Massachusetts General Hospital where she authored numerous p...
Alan Premasiri

Senior Manager, Clinical Operations

Alan Premasiri joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2013. Alan received a Bachelor’s degree in Neurobiology from Boston University and later rec...
Val Tassinari

Associate Scientist III

Val Tassinari joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2010. She earned a BA in Marine Science from Boston University in 2012 and an MS in Molecular...
Ken Thompson

Vice President, Facility Operations

Ken Thompson joined the ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2000. A close friend of ALS patient Stephen Heywood, Ken discontinued his work in marine biol...
Yiding Yan

Associate Scientist III

Yiding joined ALS Therapy Development Institute in 2015. She has 20 years’ experience in bench research in both biopharmaceuticals and academics, where she...