Opher Kornfeld

Founded in 2023, SPARK NS is a non-profit translational research organization dedicated to efficiently advancing promising academic discoveries in neuroscience from the lab to the clinic. The SPARK NS Translational Research Program provides selected projects with up to $2,000,000 in milestone-based funding, education in drug development, mentorship from industry expert advisors, and scientific and business networking opportunities.The program is are designed to close gaps in knowledge and know-how and eliminate barriers that slow or prevent promising discoveries from directly benefiting patients. The SPARK NS program operates on a proven model for collaboration between academic researchers and industry experts developed and refined since 2006. Academic principal investigators with projects at any stage of development between a target identification and entry into clinical trials are eligible to apply to the SPARK NS program. As an independent organization, SPARK NS selects the most promising projects that emerge from the global neuroscience research community. SPARK NS currently focuses on Parkinson’s disease and autism.