Dr. Michel Baudry
Western University of Health Sciences · Pomona, California, USA
Dr. Michel Baudry is a neuroscientist and University Professor at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, who has studied calpains — the enzyme family affected in SPG76 — for more than 40 years. In 2016 his group showed that loss of CAPN1 causes ataxia in mice and in people, and his laboratory is now working to test whether a selective calpain-2 inhibitor can help in the SPG76 mouse model.
What he is working on
Preparing a study in mice that lack calpain-1 — the same change as in people with SPG76 — to test whether a selective calpain-2 inhibitor protects the nervous system.
Main research goals
- Show whether blocking calpain-2 — the enzyme left unopposed when calpain-1 is missing in SPG76 — can protect the nervous system in the SPG76 mouse model.
- Develop a blood test that shows whether a calpain-2 treatment is reaching its target, so that its effect can be measured in future studies.
- The long-term aim: a treatment that slows or halts the progression of SPG76.
Research funding applied for
- Blood test for calpain-2 activityPrincipal investigator: develops a blood test that shows whether a calpain-2 treatment is reaching its target.
- Five-year Canadian research programCo-investigator on the program led by Dr. Ziv Gan-Or (McGill University), leading its mouse studies.
His book
In The Silent Epidemic: Quest for a Cure (2025), written with Dr. Stella Sung, Dr. Baudry tells the story of more than 40 years of research on calpains and of the effort to turn that research into a treatment for traumatic brain injury, often called “the silent epidemic.”
The SPG76 Research Foundation collaborates with the researchers below — sharing information, connecting them with each other and with people affected by SPG76, and working together on research grant applications, including joint applications and letters of support.
Disclaimer: Each researcher is independent. They are not employees, officers or directors of the foundation, and they do not speak for it. Their research is their own and is carried out at their own institutions, which are independent of the foundation. Being listed here does not mean that they or their institutions endorse the foundation. Each researcher has approved what is written about them.
If you or someone in your family has SPG76, please contact the foundation rather than the researchers directly. We answer every message, keep people up to date on the research and let them know when there is a way to help. Join the patient network or email contact@spg76research.org.