Reading Time: 3 minutes Yesterday we published an introductory blog on frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and described how it is sometimes found in combination with MND. Today we are looking at a biomedical project on FTD and MND that we are funding. The project Dr Olaf Ansorge and Professor Kevin Talbot of Oxford University are leading a biomedical project aimed…
Reading Time: 4 minutes Dr Frank Hirth is one of the world’s leading fruit fly MND researchers. Based at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, he has been working on an Association-funded project developing a C9orf72 fruit fly model of MND. Here we mark the end of this project, and report on what the…
Reading Time: 3 minutes During December and November the Research Development team receive a number of Christmas presents from our funded researchers. These presents come in the form of ‘annual reports’ and, although they may not be wrapped in Christmas paper, once you open them you’re sure to find a nice research surprise! One of our PhD students, Ambra…
Reading Time: 4 minutes MND Association and Alzheimer’s Research UK-funded researchers from University College London have identified that toxic proteins may cause motor neurones to die in C9orf72 MND and frontotemporal dementia. Published open access in the journal Science on Thursday 7 August, this research explains more about one of the most common forms of inherited MND.
Reading Time: 2 minutes As well as helping out with our ‘blog a day’ during MND Awareness Month, we also asked our researchers to get involved in ‘baking’ to become our first ‘MND Researchers Bake off Champion’. We received some great science-themed cakes, from zebrafish biscuits to a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR) machine cake! Our Director of Research, Dr Brain Dickie said:…
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dr Jakub Scaber is a Medical Research Council (MRC)/ MND Association Lady Edith Wolfson Clinical Research Fellow who works in Professor Kevin Talbot’s Laboratory at the Oxford University. Like Prof Chandran’s research, Dr Scaber’s fellowship is also investigating stem-cell derived motor neurones, here he blogs about his research. This is an image of motor neurons. But not just…
Reading Time: 5 minutes It’s been six months since the UK MND DNA Bank (DNA Bank) opened its doors to researchers around the world, so what has been happening to all those samples? Dr Lucy Smith, Research Information Administrator at the MND Association, explains: The DNA Bank is the first UK biobank dedicated to MND and has 3000 samples under…
Reading Time: 3 minutes We know that in the 5-10% of cases where there is a strong family history of MND, there is likely to be a genetic cause at work, acting like a weight to push the scales in favour of the disease occurring. These gene mutations are hidden somewhere within the 15 billion or so letters of…
Reading Time: 5 minutes The 24th International Symposium on ALS/MND began in Milan today with a record number of over 950 delegates attending to hear the latest news in MND research. Inherited MND is a rare form of MND characterised by a family history of the disease. Over recent years more and more genes have been discovered, which has…
Reading Time: 4 minutes In 2011 an international team of scientists, including three MND Association-funded researchers, identified the elusive C9orf72 gene located on Chromosome 9. Since this ground-breaking discovery, researchers from around the world have been trying to find a way to open-up and reveal more about this MND-causing gene. Determined to get inside and unravel the secrets behind…
