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: 12 minutes Despite decades of research, we still do not fully understand why some people get MND, but studies in cell and animal models of the disease suggest that astrocytes and microglia cells are key players in the process, and a potential target for new therapies to moderate oxidative stress, reduce mitochondrial damage, and limit glutamate excitotoxicity…
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: 5 minutes There are literally thousands of websites on the internet that make claims about amazing alternative or off-label treatments (AOTs) and even cures for MND but with little or no scientific evidence to back these claims up. This presents a real problem for people living with the disease who may want to try them. Are they…
Reading Time: 7 minutes In November 2018 the Home Office released a draft Guideline scope for Cannabis-based products for medicinal use in which they announced that specialist doctors (like consultant neurologists) on the Special Register of the General Medical Council will be able to prescribe cannabis-based medicinal products to some patients. Before this, the only cannabis-based medicines licensed for…
Reading Time: 2 minutes The research team frequently gets asked about the effectiveness of alternative therapies and their use as treatments for MND. Here we report on a recent paper that looked at the effects of ashwagandha, or Indian ginseng, in a SOD1 mouse model of MND. For around 3000 years Withania somnifera (WS), commonly known as ashwagandha or Indian ginseng,…
Reading Time: 3 minutes The MND Association’s Director of Research, Brian Dickie explains more about ‘GM6’, also known as ‘GM604’, a drug in development by an American pharmaceutical company Genervon. The Association funds a wide range of research that leads to new understanding and treatments, which may one day, bring us closer to a cure for MND. We are hopeful…
Reading Time: 2 minutes Dr Richard Bedlack is based at the Duke ALS Clinic in America. Back in 2009 he founded ALSUntangled and to start off MND Awareness week he writes about the group and what they’ve achieved in the past five years. ALSUntangled started in 2009 as a method for helping people living with MND (commonly known as ALS…
Reading Time: 4 minutes The only ‘proven’ treatment to slow the progression of MND is Riluzole. There are, however, many organisations offering expensive ‘unproven’ and ‘alternative’ treatments for MND. We have worked with the organisation Sense about Science to help produce their ‘I’ve got nothing to lose by trying it’ information booklet so that people living with MND can…
Reading Time: 3 minutes We are aware that a number of MND organisations, forums and people living with MND have received spam messages regarding a gentleman who claims that he can stop the deterioration for MND through an ‘electro medicine’ treatment. He urges readers of the message to reply to his email so that he can provide his proof.…
