Reading Time: 7 minutes Each year we invite plenary speakers who are experts in their fields to provide an overview on topics across MND research and clinical practice. This year we have 14 plenary speakers talking about ALS/MND who will discuss a wide range of topics from genetics to tissue biomarkers to improving clinical practice. In this second blog we will be taking a closer look at some of our plenary speakers this year and sharing more about the topics they will be discussing.
Category: Markers of Disease Progression
Symposium Preview: Meet the ALS/MND Plenary Speakers…Part 1
Reading Time: 7 minutes As the research team count down to this year’s International Symposium on ALS/MND, we will be posting blogs throughout November to give you a snapshot
Reading Time: 4 minutes My name is Dr Hannah Smith, and I’m a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh. My project is supervised by Professor Tom Gillingwater, and my work is funded by MND Scotland. My current research focuses on comparing healthy motor neurons and those with MND/ALS, specifically focusing on early changes to the cellular machinery and how the motor neurons produce the proteins they need to function. I’ll discuss the specifics of that, and why we are interested in finding out this information, in the next section.
Reading Time: 4 minutes My name is Florence and I’m doing a PhD in artificial intelligence (AI) enabled healthcare at University College London. My research is specifically investigating how AI techniques can be used to improve the prediction of how quickly somebody’s disease will progress in motor neurone disease.
A stepping stone to becoming future leaders in MND research
Reading Time: 6 minutes MND is a very complex disease and collaboration within the research community is key to building on our current understanding of the disease biology and
Highlights from MND EnCouRage UK 2023
Reading Time: 5 minutes Hi everyone! My name’s Katie and I recently joined the Association as a Supporter Information Officer. My role offers me a unique perspective as I
Reading Time: 6 minutes MND is a very complex disease, and in the UK there is still only one approved treatment so the need for more effective treatments remains
Reading Time: 5 minutes Research into MND has increased over recent years and we now have a greater understanding of what is happening within the body during the disease.
Reading Time: 4 minutes A recent paper published in Brain Communications has identified several lipid (fat-like) molecules that are elevated in MND, specifically amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) which is
Reading Time: 5 minutes What is a clinical endpoint?
A clinical endpoint is used to determine if the drug that is being tested in a clinical trial is beneficial to the people it is intended to treat – those effects that directly measure how a participant in the trial feels, functions or survives.
To determine a clinical endpoint, it is important to understand how a person with a disease feels and functions, and this is well understood in MND. So, a drug that improves any of these could be seen to be beneficial.