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A photo of lab vessels used to grow cells in the lab
14 March 2024
Recreating the human brain in the lab
12 March 2024
Cracking the genetic code in MND
6 March 2024
Risk of death – clinical trial statistics…
28 February 2024
Is nerve injury related to symptom onset…
22 February 2024
Developing a potential microRNA blood test for…
Cracking the genetic code in MND

Cracking the genetic code in MND

Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi, I’m Heather, a PhD student from King’s College London, and a Communications Ambassador for the 34th International Symposium on ALS/MND which was held in Basel last December. Over 1,300 attendees from around the world gathered to connect with researchers and people affected by MND and engage with the latest research presented in the platform presentation and poster sessions. In this blog post, I will be sharing several of my personal highlights of the symposium, which cover how differences in our genetic code can be explored to understand their effects on MND risk and progression.

Risk of death – clinical trial statistics explained

Risk of death – clinical trial statistics explained

Reading Time: 5 minutes "New drug reduces risk of death by 50%"

You may have seen this type of headline in news articles reporting on the outcome of clinical trials. Reading this headline can lead people to believe a potential drug is highly beneficial and has a real impact. However, it is important to delve a little deeper into the meaning of ‘risk of death’, the raw data behind it, and how it should be considered alongside other outcome measures of a trial to fully determine how effective a drug might be.

Is nerve injury related to symptom onset site in MND?

Is nerve injury related to symptom onset site in MND?

Reading Time: 4 minutes In our brains, specific areas control the movement of different body parts (see image below). As we know, MND is a complex disease with a lot of variation between individuals who are affected. For example, symptoms may start in different body parts for different individuals. Understanding why this happens may help us predict the disease onset site or progression across the body in the future.