Disease mechanisms Archives - Page 4 of 12

Can signs of MND be detected before symptoms appear?

6 January 20236 January 2023Eleanor Green

Reading Time: 6 minutes It has been suggested that there might be a pre-symptomatic stage of MND, where the disease is active and occurring within a person but no symptoms are showing. There is currently little research in this area and a lack of evidence of a pre-symptomatic stage of the disease. However, if it can be shown that there is a pre-symptomatic stage which can be measured, this could be very useful in helping people with MND to get treatment as early as possible. Dr Michael Benatar, from the University of Miami, has been looking into this by studying the development of MND and how the disease presents in people who have a high risk of developing it.

Conversations with…4 international MND researchers

15 December 202215 December 2022Research Development Team

Reading Time: 3 minutes Last week at the 33rd International Symposium on ALS/MND, we heard some exciting updates on a wide range of research happening all over the world. The pace of ALS/MND research has drastically increased over recent years and we now have a better understanding about the underlying biology of the disease which is crucial to being able to identify new potential drug targets.

Cells behaving badly: what’s going wrong in immune cells in MND?

2 December 20222 December 2022Eleanor Green

Reading Time: 5 minutes A recent paper published in the Journal Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation has revealed new insights into how immune cells behave in MND. This work, which is the result of a collaboration between researchers across different universities, aimed to uncover more about the role of the immune system in MND progression. The study used blood samples…

Symposium Blogathon: Focus on… Tatyana Shelkovnikova

18 November 202218 November 2022Research Development Team

Reading Time: 2 minutes This blog is part of our Symposium Blogathon series – where we are counting down to the 33rd International Symposium. Numbers in bold blue type correspond to the code in the abstract book. Click on the number to be redirected to the full abstract. As a new feature of the Symposium Blogathon, we got in touch…

Symposium Blogathon: Focus on… Róisín McMackin

14 November 202218 November 2022Research Development Team

Could evidence of MND be found years before the development of physical symptoms?

26 October 202226 October 2022Research Development Team

Reading Time: 6 minutes A recent paper (October 2022), published in the journal Journal of Pathology: Clinical Research suggests that evidence of MND can be seen inside people years before they develop physical symptoms. The paper titled ‘pTDP-43 aggregates accumulate in non-central nervous system tissues prior to symptom onset in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a case series linking archival surgical biopsies…

Travel disruptions: transport along neurones in MND

23 August 202224 February 2023Research Development Team

Reading Time: 6 minutes A newly published paper in Acta Neuropathologica Communications has shed light on the behaviour of healthy motor neurones compared to motor neurones found in MND. This work looks to provide another crucial piece to the puzzle of what goes wrong with motor neurones in MND. The movement of substances along the motor neurones is known…

New discovery reveals why mysterious genetic variant impacts ALS severity

24 February 20223 March 2022Research Development Team

Reading Time: 4 minutes My name is Oscar Wilkins and I am a PhD student working with Professors Pietro Fratta (recipient of a MND Association Research Fellowship) and Jernej Ule. Recently, in collaboration with Sarah Hill and Michael Ward, a team led by PhD student Anna-Leigh Brown, postdoctoral researcher Matt Keuss and myself uncovered a promising new target for…

Written in the stars – do astrocytes hold the key to motor neurone death?

2 February 20222 February 2022Charlotte Roy

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…

Drug discovery and development

23 November 202123 November 2021Mandy Spencer

Reading Time: 4 minutes This is blog number 17 in our ‘Symposium Blogathon’ – counting down to the 32nd International Symposium on ALS/MND. Numbers in bold green type correspond to the code in the abstract book. Click on the number to be redirected to the full abstract (the page may take a minute to load). Drug discovery can be…