In July we hosted our annual event for early career researchers (ECRs) in the UK. MND EnCouRage UK is a two day event which aims to support ECRs to build skills and connections which will help them move forward in their careers and continue to work within MND research. One of these skills is communicating research to non-scientific audiences as it’s important that the ECRs can tell the MND community and the general public about the work they do.
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We asked the ECRs to put their new skills to the test and explain their research to the MND community. This guest blog is from Abby O’Sullivan, one of the ECRs who came to the event this year.
Can you tell us how you got into MND research?
My name is Abby O’Sullivan, and I have just started the second year as a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. Growing up in Ireland, I have always had a keen curiosity for all things science. When my mum was diagnosed with ALS in 2007, this only added fuel to the fire. I was just five years old at the time. Her disease progressed steadily, robbing her of her ability to speak with her own voice and move independently. My mum has been incredible throughout the years, involving me in her care in a way that helped me to understand the disease. I remember learning how to use her feeding tube at the age of 7, and breezing around the house in her power wheelchair. While I have experienced how devastating this disease is to people with MND and their families, I have also come to appreciate the determination that my mother and others living with MND have to understand and contribute to research in the hope of better treatments, not only for themselves, but for future generations.
It is this hope that drove me to the field of neuroscience and MND research. Just a few weeks after completing my undergraduate degree in Dublin last year, I made the move to begin my PhD in Prof. Siddharthan Chandran’s lab at the University of Edinburgh. The first year has been a whirlwind of learning, but I have enjoyed every bit of it.
What does your research focus on?
My research is centred around finding new combinations of drug treatments that may be beneficial for those living with ALS. As our knowledge of ALS is improving, we are beginning to understand that the loss of motor neurons and deterioration of motor function experienced by patients is not driven by just one process, but in fact involves multiple processes. Within the motor neurons themselves, there can be disruption to things like energy production, their ability to deal with stress, how they transport and breakdown proteins, and several other key processes necessary for maintaining healthy cells. The role of other cells in the nervous system, other than motor neurons, is also becoming apparent. For example, we know that neuroinflammation – the overactivation of supporting cells in the nervous system – is a key contributor to the damage that occurs to motor neurons. It is this complex nature that makes MND a good candidate for combination therapies.
Use of combination therapies has been responsible for several breakthroughs in cancer treatment over the last two decades or so. Only recently has this approach become more common in neurodegenerative disease. Many drugs proven to be ineffective in clinical trials for MND target just one of the faulty pathways associated with the disease. By using combinations of drugs, we can target multiple processes simultaneously – essentially delivering multiple blows to the disease at the same time, instead of just a single hit. We hope that this could increase the chance of a treatment slowing or stopping progression.
To identify candidate drugs, we test drugs in human stem cell models of ALS. For example, we will look for drugs that can reduce neuroinflammation, or those that reduce the toxic clumping of proteins within the cell. This process uses automated technologies that allow us to test up to twenty-thousand compounds in one experiment. We can then pair two drugs that target different aspects of the disease and test them in a mouse model of ALS. Most of the drugs that we test are repurposed drugs, having already been approved for use in the treatment of other diseases. This means that, if good candidates are identified, they can progress quickly to clinical trials. This approach can save precious time in making treatments available to people with the disease – time that we know is all too precious in the unpredictable journey of MND.
Why did you want to attend MND EnCouRage?
As an ECR, the chance to present your work and learn in such a supportive environment, with input and feedback from other researchers and the wider MND community, is rare. MND EnCouRage offers just this, so I was very excited to get this opportunity.
What did you learn from the event and how will this help you in your career?
I learnt all about the importance of effective science communication. Workshops on communication and public speaking gave me a huge boost in confidence when presenting my work. I also had the opportunity to speak with members of the wider MND community about how important effective research communication is for them, highlighting the need for researchers to share their work in an accessible manner – something that I will hold with great importance as my career progresses.
How did it feel to present your work to the MND community?
It felt particularly special to present my work to people with and affected by MND. My work is driven by a great degree of hope and passion, and it was excellent to get the chance to share this hope and passion with those affected by MND. As someone also affected by MND, I understand how important this hope can be. It’s also really great to get feedback from others affected by MND on what is most important to them, and how I can ensure that my approach to my work reflects this.
What was your highlight of the event?
For me, the highlight of the event was meeting all the other attendees and making important connections. Meeting fellow ECRs and sharing knowledge or reflecting on similar experiences was really valuable. Getting to know people with MND and others affected by MND was a particularly important highlight of the event. Some of the discussions and conversations I have had over the 2 days will stay with me for a long time.
We would like to thank Abby for taking the time to write this guest blog about her work and also thank everyone involved in making MND EnCouRage UK 2024 such a success. You can find out more about MND EnCouRage UK on our website.
