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Author: Research Development Team

The MND Association’s vision is a world free from MND. Realising this vision means investing more in research, further developing partnerships with the research community, funding bodies and industry, while ensuring that advances in understanding and treating MND are communicated as quickly and effectively as possible. Our Research Development team, composed of 11 members, work hard to achieve this. Principally, the Research Information team within this are involved in communication activities including this MND Research blog.

Growing brain cells in 3D to study MND

Growing brain cells in 3D to study MND

Research Development Team1 Comment

Reading Time: 5 minutes My current work focuses on looking at the cell types that are affected in MND and how they impact each other. Motor neurons, the main cell type affected in MND, connect our brains and muscles. This connection is what allows us to move. In MND, these cells start to die, which is what leads to progressive paralysis. But motor neurons aren’t the only cell types affected by MND. They are surrounded by many more cells called glia, which have roles in keeping our motor neurons healthy.

Improving the protection of motor neurons in MND

Improving the protection of motor neurons in MND

Research Development Team1 Comment

Reading Time: 5 minutes I’m Hannah, an MND Association-funded first year PhD student at the University of Nottingham. During my undergraduate degree in Biochemistry, also at Nottingham, I had the opportunity to do a project researching MND in the lab, where my interest in MND began. During this project I also met someone who was living with MND, who had come to hear about the research happening in our lab. Hearing his insights into the devastating effects of MND really stuck with me, and I decided I wanted to begin a career in MND research. This led me to my PhD project, in which I am aiming to make a natural type of cell called astrocytes more protective of motor neurones. We hope that this work will inform us of a possible new way to treat MND.

Qualitative research in MND: navigating challenges for participants and researchers

Qualitative research in MND: navigating challenges for participants and researchers

Research Development Team

Reading Time: 3 minutes Jade and Liam are researchers at Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, University of Sheffield. Liam’s work aims to improve healthcare services through technology by involving people with MND in their development. Jade is interested in using research to better understand the issues and implications around genetic forms of MND and to support people to navigate decisions…

Improving the management of cough and secretion problems in MND

Improving the management of cough and secretion problems in MND

Research Development Team

Reading Time: 3 minutes My name is Charlotte and I am a specialist physiotherapist who has worked within the field of MND and neuromuscular disease for many years. Prior to starting my PhD, I worked as the lead physiotherapist on the Neuromuscular Complex Care Centre (NMCCC) at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, part of UCL centre for neuromuscular diseases in London.

Investigating the role of FUS in MND

Investigating the role of FUS in MND

Research Development Team

Reading Time: 3 minutes My name is Sara Tacconelli and I grew up in a small town in Abruzzo, Italy, and I was raised in a nurturing environment, surrounded by love and affection from my family and friends. I always had a passion for science and as I grew older, a strong desire to dedicate my life to a meaningful cause emerged within me- a desire to somehow make a difference in the lives of others.

Symposium Spotlight: A patient fellows perspective

Symposium Spotlight: A patient fellows perspective

Research Development Team

Reading Time: 6 minutes Every year the Patient Fellows Symposium Programme helps people living with MND, from all over the world, to participate in the International Symposium on ALS/MND. The is the largest annual gathering of MND researchers and healthcare professionals dedicated to MND research in the global calendar. Attending provides, those who the research will benefit, an opportunity to have a firsthand view of the most recent and promising research being undertaken by researchers across the world.