The Milken Institute‘s Science Philanthropy Accelerator for Research and Collaboration (SPARC) and the Kissick Family Foundation announced on September 24, 2026 the selection of five research teams for $2.5 million in third-cycle funding under the Kissick Family Foundation Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD) Grant Program, while opening a fourth funding cycle for new proposals.
Kissick Family Foundation Co-President Kasey Kissick Duarte said: “FTD is a complex disease, and we believe getting treatments and cures will require scientists across disciplines coming together. We’re proud to support so many incredible research teams around the world and, more importantly, to have helped build a community where researchers can share ideas and build on one another’s successes and failures to move the field forward faster. While it’s too late for my dad, who passed away from FTD in 2024, this work gives us hope that we’re on the cusp of discoveries that will change the outlook for all the other families affected by this disease.”
Five Teams Chasing Why Some Neurons Die First
The newly funded projects span the U.S. and Europe: William W. Seeley, MD, and Alex Pollen, PhD, at the University of California, San Francisco are probing neuron type-specific vulnerability to reveal upstream FTLD-TDP disease mechanisms; a second UCSF team led by Jennifer Yokoyama, PhD, is studying the interferon-driven gene IFI44L as a modifier of sporadic FTD’s disease trajectory; Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne, MD, PhD, and Liron Bar-Peled, PhD, at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School are building a chemical proteomics-based “DrugMap” spanning FTD subtypes; and Jochen Weishaupt, MD, at Ulm University, working with collaborators at INSERM and the German Cancer Research Center, is investigating genetic mosaicism in FTD pathogenesis. Michael Guo, MD, PhD, at the University of Pennsylvania rounds out the group, leading a team decoding somatic genome instability as a driver of selective neuronal vulnerability in FTD. SPARC Managing Director Sylvie Raver, PhD, framed the program’s role in a field that draws relatively little funding: “Neurodegenerative diseases like FTD can be devastating for people living with the disorders and for their families, who deserve tailored treatments, clearer diagnostic journeys, and improved outlooks. At SPARC, we believe that philanthropic investment is a critical tool to advance these outcomes, through supporting communities of scientists and clinicians conducting high-risk, early-stage research that serves as the foundation for new breakthroughs. Grant programs like these are invaluable for under-resourced fields of study like FTD.”
A Fourth Cycle Opens as the Science Still Lacks Basic Tools
FTD typically strikes people between ages 45 and 65, carries an average life expectancy of roughly 7.5 years after symptoms begin, and — unlike more heavily studied neurodegenerative diseases — still has no definitive diagnostic test or disease-modifying therapy; about 60% of cases are sporadic rather than inherited, which is where several of this cycle’s projects are focused. The Kissick Family Foundation and SPARC, partners since 2022, are now accepting letters of intent for a fourth funding cycle through November 4, 2026, with individual awards of up to $500,000 over two years (inclusive of indirect costs) and awardees expected to be notified in mid-2027. The program traces back to the Milken Institute’s November 2023 report, “Frontotemporal Dementia: A Giving Smarter Guide,” which the release cites as informing the grant program’s design; it doesn’t specify total funding committed across all four cycles to date.
About the Kissick Family Foundation
The Kissick Family Foundation aims to catalyze change through bold and dynamic philanthropy. It provides critical early support for the leaders, researchers, and entrepreneurs who are finding cures, repairing catastrophic damage, and changing entire fields of study. The foundation invests in cutting-edge scientific research and advocacy for neurodegenerative diseases, with a focus on frontotemporal dementia.
About the Milken Institute
The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank focused on accelerating measurable progress on the path to a meaningful life. With a focus on financial, physical, mental, and environmental health, the Institute brings together ideas and innovative resourcing to develop blueprints for tackling critical global issues.
