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Structure of C9ORF72 repeat identified by MND Association funded researchers

Reading Time: 4 minutes New exciting findings announced today provide the first insight into the structure and function of a repeated six letter genetic sequence in an MND gene called C9ORF72. Understanding the function of C9ORF72, and how it could go wrong to cause MND, could assist researchers in the future to identify potential treatments that target the disease.…

A prize-winning story worth repeating

Reading Time: 2 minutes Many congratulations to Rosa Rademakers from Mayo Clinic Florida USA, winner of this year’s Paulo Gontijo Young Investigator award. She won the award for her work on co-discovering the gene defect in C9orf72. As part of her prize (in addition to a medal and a cheque to continue her work) she gave an overview of…

University of Bath research shows how angiogenin affects motor neurone survival

Reading Time: 3 minutes Published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications and funded by the Wellcome Trust, University of Bath researchers looked closely at the structure of 11 mutated angiogenin proteins, and how changes in their structure influenced activity, function and survival in motor neurones. Dr Brian Dickie, Director of Research at the Association, said “The researchers at the…

Attracting Promising Research – Calling for Project Grant Applications

Reading Time: 2 minutes Autumn is fast approaching which means it’s time to open our online summary application form for our next round of research grant applications. This round is for project grant applications. The deadline for summary applications is Friday 2 November 2012. Reaching out for researchers We currently fund ground breaking projects in a number of would…

New fellowship explores how C9ORF72 causes MND

Reading Time: 4 minutes Dr Johnathan Cooper-Knock from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) has been awarded with the fifth Medical Research Council (MRC)/MND Association Lady Edith Wolfson Clinical Research Fellowship. Through his three-year fellowship, Dr Cooper-Knock will use the MND Association’s DNA bank to study how recently discovered mistakes (known as mutations) in a gene called C9ORF72…

Sharing and networking in Liverpool

Reading Time: 5 minutes From Sunday morning to Tuesday evening last week, there was a lot of talk of MND research going on in Liverpool. The reason for this ‘hotspot’ of discussions was due to the annual meeting of an international consortium of MND researchers taking place at the University of Liverpool. The 10th International Consortium on SOD1 and…

Clinical trial low down, down under

Reading Time: 3 minutes “After a time where patients and sponsors of trials alike had become disheartened about the lack of positive clinical trials, it is exciting to see so many positives, including the recently approved Neudexta, and the dexpramipexole study”, commented Professor Robert Miller from the Forbes Norris ALS/MDA centre in San Francisco opening the discussions on clinical…