MND Research Blog

Risk of death – clinical trial statistics explained

6 March 20246 March 2024Research Development Team

Reading Time: 5 minutes "New drug reduces risk of death by 50%"

You may have seen this type of headline in news articles reporting on the outcome of clinical trials. Reading this headline can lead people to believe a potential drug is highly beneficial and has a real impact. However, it is important to delve a little deeper into the meaning of ‘risk of death’, the raw data behind it, and how it should be considered alongside other outcome measures of a trial to fully determine how effective a drug might be.

Is nerve injury related to symptom onset site in MND?

28 February 202428 February 2024Research Development Team

Reading Time: 4 minutes In our brains, specific areas control the movement of different body parts (see image below). As we know, MND is a complex disease with a lot of variation between individuals who are affected. For example, symptoms may start in different body parts for different individuals. Understanding why this happens may help us predict the disease onset site or progression across the body in the future.

Developing a potential microRNA blood test for ALS diagnosis

22 February 202422 February 2024Research Development Team

Reading Time: 4 minutes I’m Hannah, a PhD student from the University of Nottingham, and a Communications Ambassador for the 34th International Symposium on ALS/MND that took place in December 2023. In this blog post I will be sharing the key messages of a talk at the symposium by Dr Sandra Banack. Dr Banack is a Senior Scientist at…

How can technology and telemedicine play a role in MND care and research?

15 February 202415 February 2024Research Development Team

Reading Time: 5 minutes Hi, my name is Avril Mc Tague. I am undertaking a Ph.D. at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland as part of the Multidisciplinary Innovation and Research Advancing Neurological care in a Digital Age (MIRANDA) doctoral award programme. This is funded by the Health Research Board in Ireland. I was one of five symposium communication ambassadors at last year’s international symposium.

Celebrating the contribution of Women to MND research

9 February 20249 February 2024Eleanor Green

Reading Time: 7 minutes Each year the 11th of February sees the world recognise and celebrate the contributions of women in science. The International day of Women and Girls in science was established by the United Nations to promote gender equality and encourage more women and girls across the world to aim to build a career in science. It…

The power of genetics in MND research

2 February 20242 February 2024Eleanor Green

Reading Time: 9 minutes Research into genetic causes of MND has greatly increased over the last few decades and gene changes have since been found to play a role in both inherited and non-inherited (sporadic) forms of the disease. Since the discovery of the first gene change in MND around 30 years ago, researchers have found over 40 gene…

7 MND clinical trial updates to look out for in 2024

25 January 202426 January 2024Charlotte Roy

Reading Time: 6 minutes Over the past couple of years, the pace of MND research has continued to increase. In the last year alone, we saw an increase in the number of MND clinical trials recruiting worldwide. During 2023 we heard some promising results from early trials and Tofersen (Qalsody), a treatment for SOD1 MND, was approved for use…

Shining a Spotlight on Early Career Researchers at the Symposium

19 January 202421 March 2024Kiran Goyal

Reading Time: 5 minutes Last month we held the 34th International Symposium on ALS/MND in Basel Switzerland. This huge event allows people from across the world to come and find out what research is currently ongoing. Within this 3-day event, we heard from researchers at all stages of their career talk about what projects they have been involved in…

Highlights from the poster sessions at the 34th International Symposium

19 January 202419 January 2024Eleanor Green

Reading Time: 7 minutes Each year we host the International Symposium on ALS/MND in December and this is the largest medical and scientific conference specific to MND. The 34th Symposium was held in Basel, Switzerland from the 6th to 8th December and over 1300 people attended from over 48 different countries to share the latest MND research updates, connect…

Reuniting the MND community at the 34th International Symposium on ALS/MND

15 December 202315 December 2023Kiran Goyal

Reading Time: 4 minutes After 3 years of online events, the MND research and healthcare community reunited in-person at the 34th International Symposium on ALS/MND in Basel, Switzerland! From 6 – 8 December 2023, we welcomed back over 1300 delegates, including researchers, health and social care professionals and people living with and affected by MND, becoming one of our…