Reading Time: 5 minutesEvery year, the team works hard to build on the previous year’s success. This year we are excited to include a series of three ALS-FTD joint sessions, in collaboration with the International Society for Frontotemporal Dementias, in the programme. To give you a teaser of what is to come, we are taking a closer look at the plenary speakers in the ALS-FTD sessions at the Symposium. In this blog, we explore the topics they will be presenting and find out a little more about the speakers.
Category: Symposium
34th Symposium: Basel Causes and disease mechanisms Markers of Disease Progression MND Research Symposium
Symposium Preview: Meet the ALS/FTD Plenary Speakers…Part 1
Reading Time: 5 minutesEvery year, the team works hard to build on the previous year’s success. This year we are excited to include a series of three ALS-FTD joint sessions, in collaboration with the International Society for Frontotemporal Dementias, in the programme.
Some people with ALS, the most common form of MND, also develop a form of dementia known as frontotemporal dementia (FTD). FTD is a group of disorders where the nerve cells in two sets of lobes (frontal and temporal) in the brain are damaged. In a similar way to how motor neurones break down in MND and cause loss of function in muscles, the damage to the nerve cells in FTD causes the connections between parts of the brain to break down. As more cells become damaged and die this can lead to symptoms such as problems with memory, thinking or language, changes in mood, emotions and behaviour.
34th Symposium: Basel Causes and disease mechanisms Clinical Trials Genetic Research Healthcare Markers of Disease Progression MND Research Models of MND Research we fund Symposium Treatments
Symposium Preview: Meet the Symposium Communications Ambassadors
Reading Time: 7 minutesEach year at the Symposium, there is a huge amount of research presented on a range of topics from across the globe. With the Symposium returning to an in-person event this year, we are keen to increase the number of updates we share for those not able to attend, including people living with and affected by MND.
To help us do this, we have launched a new Symposium Communications Ambassador Programme so we can bring more of the research from the Symposium to non-scientific audiences. This programme was open for applications from early career researchers working in MND, who were interested in helping us shine a light on MND research happening across the world. This year we have 5 early career researchers taking part in the Programme, who will gain experience and new skills in communicating research to different audiences. Before, during and after the Symposium our Ambassador’s will be helping us to share the latest research with the MND community.
34th Symposium: Basel Causes and disease mechanisms Clinical Trials Events Genetic Research Markers of Disease Progression MND Research Symposium
Symposium Preview: Meet the ALS/MND Plenary Speakers…Part 2
Reading Time: 7 minutesEach 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.
34th Symposium: Basel Causes and disease mechanisms Events Genetic Research Healthcare Markers of Disease Progression MND Research Models of MND Symposium
Symposium Preview: Meet the ALS/MND Plenary Speakers…Part 1
Reading Time: 7 minutesAs 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: 6 minutesEvery year the Patient Fellows Symposium Programme helps people living with MND, from all over the world, to participate in the International Symposium on ALS/MND. The is the largest annual gathering of MND researchers and healthcare professionals dedicated to MND research in the global calendar. Attending provides, those who the research will benefit, an opportunity to have a firsthand view of the most recent and promising research being undertaken by researchers across the world.
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).
Reading Time: 7 minutesShyuan’s talk was titled ‘Investigating the role of hypermetabolism in ALS’ (C06 in the abstract book) and discussed the research being carried out by her team to try and understand the mechanisms driving hypermetabolism in ALS and what hypermetabolism means clinically for people living with the disease. This blog details Shyuan’s work and looks closely at her observations on hypermetabolism in relation to ALS.
Reading Time: 6 minutesIt 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.
Reading Time: 5 minutesWhat 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.