In the heat of August (for once I can actually write that, without my fingers crossed behind my back!), statistics relating to the production of the must-have document for the 24th International Symposium on ALS/MND in Milan in December might seem extremely ‘abstract’!
Abstracts are scientific summaries of the research that will be presented at the largest annual scientific conference on MND, organised by the MND Association. We have had a bumper year for people wishing to present their work, with over 500 summaries received. 
In the last month, my colleagues Lucy, Sam and Pauline have been busy preparing the text of these summaries, to send to the publisher. We pressed the ‘send’ button on the 15 August, much to the relief of all concerned.
They will be published online for all to access and download at the beginning of November. But if you’re curious to see what they look like, the presentations from last year are still available.
Here’s a countdown of some of the abstract statistics so far:
- 750, 000 + words read in total by the research team at the MND Association between May and August
- 189, 618 words were sent to the publishers for the abstract book, in the form of a 357 page document (Font: Times 10 pt in case you were wondering.. !)
- 3, 515 different researchers have contributed to the abstracts, making an average of 7 authors per summary – showing the truly collaborative nature of MND research
- 103 talks are scheduled in the programme, now available to view online on our website
- 320 poster presentations in the abstract book, with over 70 additional posters to be presented on care practice and work in progress
We look forward to sharing with you our progress as we prepare for Milan. You can also follow the story on Twitter using the #alssymp hashtag.
