Emma Scotter

Emma Louise Scotter MNZM is a New Zealand academic neuropharmacologist, and is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland, and head of the university's Centre for Brain Research. In 2024 she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Motor Neuron Disease research.

Scotter completed a PhD in pharmacology at the University of Auckland, working on Huntington's disease.^[1] She undertook postdoctoral work at the University of Waikato, and then received an international fellowship to work on motor neuron disease genetics with Professor Chris Shaw at King's College London.^[2] Scotter then returned to Auckland as a postdoctoral research fellow, and in 2015 was awarded a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship, for research on the blood-brain-barrier in motor neuron disease (MND).^[3] She joined the faculty of the university, rising to senior lecturer.^[1] As of 2024 she is head of the university's Centre for Brain Research.^[4]

Scotter's team has shown that New Zealand has one of the highest incidences of motor neuron disease in the world.^[2] There are around 35 different genes involved in MND, but only around 10 per cent of cases are known to be genetic, and environmental causes are also believed to play a part. Scotter leads a large study into the genetics of the disease in New Zealand, and in one family was able to identify the specific genetic defect involved, allowing family members to be tested.^[5] Her research group is trialling treatments, some of which appear to slow or stop the disease progression for some patients.^[2][6][7]

In the 2024 King's Birthday Honours, Scotter was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Motor Neuron Disease research.^[4]

Scholia has a profile for Emma Scotter (Q56530392).

• Younbok Lee; Han-Jou Chen; João N Peres; et al. (27 November 2013). "Hexanucleotide repeats in ALS/FTD form length-dependent RNA foci, sequester RNA binding proteins, and are neurotoxic". Cell Reports. 5 (5): 1178–1186. doi:10.1016/J.CELREP.2013.10.049. ISSN 2211-1247. PMC 3898469. PMID 24290757. Wikidata Q37503127.
• Christopher S Kearn; Katherine Blake-Palmer; Emma Daniel; Ken Mackie; Michelle Glass (14 February 2005). "Concurrent stimulation of cannabinoid CB1 and dopamine D2 receptors enhances heterodimer formation: a mechanism for receptor cross-talk?". Molecular Pharmacology. 67 (5): 1697–1704. doi:10.1124/MOL.104.006882. ISSN 0026-895X. PMID 15710746. Wikidata Q33211909.
• Bradley N Smith; Nicola Ticozzi; Claudia Fallini; et al. (22 October 2014). "Exome-wide rare variant analysis identifies TUBA4A mutations associated with familial ALS". Neuron. 84 (2): 324–331. doi:10.1016/J.NEURON.2014.09.027. ISSN 0896-6273. PMC 4521390. PMID 25374358. Wikidata Q35906336.
• Emma Scotter; Han-Jou Chen; Christopher Shaw (1 April 2015). "TDP-43 Proteinopathy and ALS: Insights into Disease Mechanisms and Therapeutic Targets". Neurotherapeutics. 12 (2): 352–363. doi:10.1007/S13311-015-0338-X. ISSN 1933-7213. PMC 4404432. PMID 25652699. Wikidata Q28080628. (erratum)
• Emma Scotter; Caroline Vance; Agnes L Nishimura; et al. (14 January 2014). "Differential roles of the ubiquitin proteasome system and autophagy in the clearance of soluble and aggregated TDP-43 species". Journal of Cell Science. 127 (Pt 6): 1263–1278. doi:10.1242/JCS.140087. ISSN 0021-9533. PMC 3953816. PMID 24424030. Wikidata Q30574024.
• Emma L Scotter; Mary E Abood; Michelle Glass (1 June 2010). "The endocannabinoid system as a target for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease". British Journal of Pharmacology. 160 (3): 480–498. doi:10.1111/J.1476-5381.2010.00735.X. ISSN 0007-1188. PMC 2931550. PMID 20590559. Wikidata Q34098196.

• Dr Emma Scotter and Dr Natalie Gauld on the AM Show on Three, 22 February 2024, via YouTube