When Dr. Frederick “Eric” Arnold talks about science, he describes it like a long-distance run. There’s the grind, the unexpected turns, and the satisfaction that comes only after pushing through the hard parts. It’s no coincidence that before he was a neuroscientist, Eric was a dedicated cross-country athlete, training himself to stay focused through discomfort and keep moving toward the finish line. That mindset now shapes how he tackles some of the most complex questions in ALS and related neurodegenerative diseases.
From Childhood Dreams to Molecular Neuroscience
As a kid, Eric wanted to be a marine biologist. He spent years fascinated by the natural world before discovering a deeper pull toward molecular biology during his time at Haverford College. A summer working in a developmental biology lab lit the spark. From there, he “fell in love with research” and jumped straight into a PhD program at Thomas Jefferson University.
His fourth rotation changed everything. He landed in a lab studying spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA), his first exposure to neurodegeneration. What drew him in wasn’t just the science, but the people. Through patient communities and small disease-focused meetings, he found himself deeply connected to individuals living with neuromuscular disorders. “If you talk to people, you realize they’re as deep in the research as I am,” he recalled. “They were even reaching the same conclusions I was reaching in the lab.”
A Field That Welcomed Him In
By the time Eric completed his PhD, he was eager to join a larger, faster-moving research community. ALS stood out. He’d been reading ALS papers for years, tracking innovative tools and bold experimental approaches. He explained, “It catches me in the same way a puzzle does, where you get so curious about finding an answer. You try this way and you try that way and you can approach it from several angles.”
What surprised Eric when he finally entered the ALS field was not the pace, but the collaboration. He expected competition. Instead, he found teams coordinating preprints, sharing insights, and amplifying each other’s work. “I haven’t found the cutthroat environment people sometimes talk about,” he said. “It’s actually been incredibly collaborative.”
Why the Springboard Fellowship Mattered
When Eric applied for the Target ALS Springboard Fellowship, he was at a pivotal moment: ready to launch an independent lab, but navigating a hiring landscape tightened by pandemic-era freezes. The fellowship helped open doors that otherwise may have stayed closed.
“It wasn’t just the funding,” he emphasized. “It’s the concept of the award. Institutions want proof that you can secure support for your research. The Springboard Fellowship gave me that, and I’m really grateful Target ALS sees the value in supporting early-career scientists this way.”
In 2025, Eric established the Arnold Lab in the Department of Genetics at Washington University in St. Louis.
Building a Lab to Tackle TDP-43 Proteinopathies
TDP-43 dysfunction is a defining feature of ALS, present in 97% of cases, and also appears in FTD and roughly half of Alzheimer’s disease. Eric’s lab is focused on understanding why TDP-43 mislocalization is so toxic to neurons and uncovering modifiers that could block or reverse that toxicity. His approach spans molecular mechanisms of TDP-43–driven neuronal loss, upstream modifiers of aggregation and mislocalization, targeted proteomics in patient tissues and biofluids and iPSC-derived neuron models and genome engineering.
He’s also committed to advancing biomarker development, driven by optimism that disease-modifying therapies are on the horizon. “When those therapies arrive, we’ll need to stratify individuals accurately, diagnose earlier, and measure therapeutic efficacy,” he said. “Biomarkers will be essential.”
Looking Ahead
Though his lab is only months old, Eric laughs at how many unexpected new projects have already emerged. “That’s what makes this stage exciting,” he said. “There are twists and turns I couldn’t have predicted, and I want to stay open to all of it.”
What does success look like to him? A diversified research program. New insights into the mechanisms that kill motor neurons. Biomarkers that move the field closer to precision medicine. And, above all, maintaining the curiosity that brought him into science in the first place.
The same curiosity and drive that has always pushed him to the finish line.
