I work in the Research Development team as a Senior Research Information Co-ordinator. I graduated from the University of Nottingham with a PhD in Chemistry in 2020. After finishing my PhD, I joined an R&D company based in Nottingham where I spent my time synthesising potential new drug treatments for a wide variety of diseases. As part of my role I will help the team communicate the latest MND research on this blog, as well as on our twitter page (@MNDResearch).
Reading Time: 6 minutes The recent publication of the results from the Phase 3 Tofersen trial, an experimental gene therapy for the treatment of MND in people with a change in the gene that instructs the SOD1 protein, has provided increasing confidence that Tofersen is having a beneficial effect in people living with SOD1 MND. This and the development…
Reading Time: 5 minutes On the 19-20 July 2022, the MND Association welcomed early career researchers, and people living with and affected by MND to the University of Northampton for the inaugural MND EnCouRage UK event. The unique two-day event was aimed at recognising, retaining and encouraging the important work of early career researchers who will be the future…
Reading Time: 5 minutes There is a desperate need for a biomarker for MND for both the diagnosis and demonstration of a biological effect as a result of a potential treatment. Recent work funded by the MND Association and others has found strong evidence to suggest that using a potential biomarker known as blood neurofilament light chain in place…
Reading Time: 6 minutes Update 21/09/2022: The results of the VALOR trial and its open label extension were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. These results give mounting confidence that Tofersen is having both a biological and a beneficial effect in people living with SOD1 MND. You can read more about the results below. The Motor Neurone…
Reading Time: 6 minutes This year is set to be an exciting time for MND research, and we are especially hopeful that MND clinical trials will take centre stage in the coming months. During 2022 we are expecting new trials to begin recruitment in the UK, other trials to readout their results and decisions announced from authorising bodies for…
Reading Time: 7 minutes Last month saw the two-year anniversary since the first COVID lockdown in England (the UK) which changed our lives forever – not least because of the distress and disruption caused to all of us – including MND research and the ability to perform and complete clinical trials here in the UK and across the world.…
Reading Time: 4 minutes “Go set the world on fire!” This is how Steve Gleason, a former professional American football player who is now living with ALS, finished his talk to 1,500 delegates at the virtual 32nd International Symposium on ALS/MND last December. Whilst using his speech to inspire researchers, clinicians, and healthcare professionals to do even more in…
Reading Time: 4 minutes Researchers at King’s College London led by Professor Christopher Shaw, are the first in Europe to embark on a clinical trial targeting a specific genetic form of ALS caused by mutations in the fused in sarcoma (FUS) gene. What is FUS-ALS? Mutations in FUS were first linked to ALS in 2009 by research led by…
Reading Time: 3 minutes Years ago, it was believed that it was only the motor neurones, the long nerve cells that carry messages from the brain to the muscles via the spinal cord, that were affected by motor neurone disease. However, over the last 10-15 years we have learnt about the vital contribution of other cell types collectively called…
