# 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.

## Academic career

Scotter completed a PhD in pharmacology at the University of Auckland, working on Huntington's disease. 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. 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). She joined the faculty of the university, rising to senior lecturer. As of 2024 she is head of the university's Centre for Brain Research.
Scotter's team has shown that New Zealand has one of the highest incidences of motor neuron disease in the world. 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. Her research group is trialling treatments, some of which appear to slow or stop the disease progression for some patients.

## Honours and awards

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.

## Selected works

* 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.