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.
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 finding effective treatments. The MND Association recognises the importance of expanding the dedicated MND research workforce, as well as supporting those who are already working in the field. To fund…
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 am in both the Research Team and the Development Team, which is part of Fundraising. Alongside our brilliant Research Team, I will be writing for the MND Research Blog on…
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 at the forefront of MND research. There have been over 140 clinical trials for MND over the last several decades and the majority of these have, unfortunately, not led to…
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. Only by understanding what is happening within the cells during the disease, will researchers discover the right targets to hit in the development of potential treatments. There is still a…
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 the most common form of MND. The study measured the levels of lipids in the blood of people living with ALS and how their lipid levels changed with time during…
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.
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…
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hello, my name is Judith Bilgorai and I am a first year PhD student, funded by the MND Association, at King’s College London. I work in the SPiQE lab under the supervision of Dr James Bashford and Prof Chris Shaw. SPiQE stands for surface potential quantification engine – simply put it is a method of…
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…
