Prof. Ruben Cauchi is a Professor of Neurogenetics within the Dept. of Physiology & Biochemistry at the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery and Principal Investigator (P.I.) at the Centre for Molecular Medicine & Biobanking. Prof. Cauchi obtained his D.Phil. from the University of Oxford (UK) working on genetic animal models of motor neuron disease and went on to do postdoctoral research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Cambridge (UK), studying RNA processing. Prof. Cauchi heads the ALS/MND Lab and leads Malta’s National ALS/MND Registry & BioBank, aiming at understanding the cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and identify innovative treatments. Making use of both pre-clinical and clinical approaches, Prof. Cauchi’s lab was key to several scientific breakthroughs published in high-impact journals. A well-published academic with over two decades experience in research, Prof. Cauchi is considered as an eminent expert on motor neuron diseases including ALS. In this regard, he serves as an editorial board member of Nature Scientific Reports, Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, PLoS ONE, BMC Neuroscience and PeerJ, and acts as an ad hoc reviewer for top-tier journals. Prof. Cauchi is also an external scientific advisor to several funding bodies including the European Research Council (ERC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (UK), Medical Research Council (UK), Association Française contre les Myopathies (AFM)-Telethon (France), Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France), la Caixa Foundation (Spain) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Europe. Prof. Cauchi served as the Editor of an academic book on pre-clinical approaches to studying motor neuron disease, featuring contributions penned by established leaders in the field. He was also the Malta representative of E.U. COST Actions focused on the clinical application of antisense-mediated therapies in neuromuscular disease. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Prof. Cauchi led the MCST-funded Project ACE which successfully developed an innovative therapeutic approach against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. As a recognised neurogenetics expert, Prof. Cauchi is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (UK) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Pathology (UK).