Author: Eleanor Green

I work in the Research Development team at the MND Association as a Senior Research Co-ordinator. I completed my undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science and I became very interested in neuroscience throughout my degree. Following on from this, I did a Master’s degree in Molecular Medicine, with a focus on gene therapies. As part of my role, I identify interesting updates in MND research and communicate these via the blog in an understandable and engaging way.

Reading Time: 5 minutesThe pace of MND research continues to increase, with more clinical trials underway in the UK, over the last year, than ever before. Adding to this momentum, the clinical platform trial MAGNET (Multi-arm, Adaptive, Group-sequential trial NETwork)has just opened to recruitment in the UK.

Over the last several decades, there have been over 140 clinical trials for MND and unfortunately most of these have not led to effective treatments. More recently, clinical trial design has become more innovative, including the use of platform trials. MAGNET is a platform trial which aims to accelerate the development of new potential treatments for MND by testing multiple drugs simultaneously.

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Reading Time: 4 minutesSome people with MND experience severe swallowing difficulties and it is estimated that over 50% of those with MND are affected by malnutrition and weight loss due to this. These factors are thought to be associated with increased disability and shortened survival, which is why nutrition remains one of the main challenges surrounding disease management. For those with MND who have severe swallowing difficulties, one of the long-term nutritional support options is a gastrostomy (a feeding tube that is inserted directly into the stomach to deliver food, fluids and some medications).

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Two women in a laboratory pipetting solutions

Reading Time: 5 minutes8 years ago, the International Day of Women and Girls in Science was created to improve gender equality in science and recognise the invaluable role women play. Each year the world comes together to celebrate inspirational women of the past, present, and future. While women continue to be under-represented in science globally, the conversation of gender equality in science is much louder than it was.

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