Reading Time: 7 minutes Researchers from the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh have developed a new tool that could help to detect signs of MND in cells before symptoms of the disease start. This work was recently published and was previously presented at the 34th International Symposium in Basel by Dr Jenna Gregory. The new tool…
Reading Time: 5 minutes Weight loss is a problem for many people living with MND, with approximately 20% of people already having lost 10% of their weight at diagnosis. Some of this weight loss may be due to a person experiencing difficulties with chewing and swallowing because of increased muscle weakness. It could be due to a lack of…
Reading Time: 6 minutes Weight loss is a problem for many people living with MND, with approximately 20% of people already having lost 10% of their weight at diagnosis. Some of this weight loss may be due to a person experiencing difficulties with chewing and swallowing because of increased muscle weakness. It could be due to a lack of…
Reading Time: 4 minutes Hello everyone. My name is Genevieve (Gen) and I have joined the Association as Philanthropy Information Officer. One of my roles is to communicate the progress made by our MND researchers, in layman’s terms, to the major donors and Trusts who generously fund much of our research. I will also be sharing research updates more…
Reading Time: 5 minutes Hi, I’m Ben, a researcher working at Sheffield University. I attended last year’s International Symposium on ALS/MND as one of the Symposium Communication Ambassadors and this is one of the most interesting pieces of work I saw. MND is an incredibly complex disease, with many factors contributing to the death of motor neurons. The way…
Reading Time: 7 minutes Hi, I’m Heather, a PhD student from King’s College London, and a Communications Ambassador for the 34th International Symposium on ALS/MND which was held in Basel last December. Over 1,300 attendees from around the world gathered to connect with researchers and people affected by MND and engage with the latest research presented in the platform presentation and poster sessions. In this blog post, I will be sharing several of my personal highlights of the symposium, which cover how differences in our genetic code can be explored to understand their effects on MND risk and progression.
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.
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…
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.
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…
