Frontotemporal dementias (FTDs) are devastating diseases involving the loss of vast numbers of cells in the brain that lead to cognitive decline. Currently, there are no effective medications to slow or prevent cell death in the brain. This project will investigate whether changing the activity of a family of proteins involved in cell survival can prevent cell death in a mouse model of frontotemporal dementia. We will change the activity of the target proteins in two ways: by administering a drug and by gene targeting with viruses. These treatments have the potential to prevent cell death in the brain and serve as pre-clinical proof of principle in an animal model before continuing to develop similar treatments for human sufferers of FTD.