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On the eighth day of Christmas MND research gave to me: Eight members of the Research Development team

Reading Time: 3 minutes “On the eighth day of Christmas MND research gives to you… EIGHT members of the Research Development team” We would like to wish all our blog readers Happy New Year! Looking forward, like many others, we have made our New Year’s resolutions of what we’d like to achieve in 2015: Brian Dickie (Director of Research…

Demystifying the symposium

Reading Time: 5 minutes The International Symposium on ALS/MND is the largest MND-specific conference in the world, which is expected to attract over 900 delegates this year. The planning of the Symposium is a year long event and is pretty much like organising a film premiere, with a number of different teams involved. The ‘symposium team’ ranges from the Conference…

Screening for Cognitive and Behavioural Change in MND

Reading Time: 3 minutes MND Association-funded researcher Dr Sharon Abrahams (University of Edinburgh) has recently published an article on the Edinburgh Cognitive ALS Screen (ECAS) in the prestigious journal Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Degeneration. It is now recognised that, in up to 50% of people living with MND not only the motor system (walking, talking breathing etc) but also…

Researchers in Australia identify how blue-green algae may cause some cases of MND

Reading Time: 4 minutes A toxin known as β-N-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA), which is found in blue-green algae, has been shown to cause proteins inside cells to clump together and cause cell death. This finding suggests that BMAA may be a cause of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and MND and could lead to the development of new treatments. What is BMAA? BMAA is…

Unproven treatments: Have you really got nothing to lose by trying it?

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…

The International Symposium on ALS/MND

Reading Time: 3 minutes Every year in December the MND Association organizes the largest medical and scientific conference specific to MND in the world. The International Symposium on ALS/MND attracts over 800 researchers, clinicians and healthcare professionals, representing the energy and dynamism of the global MND research community. The symposium in Chicago last year had a record attendance of over 900 delegates with…

How to use this blog

Reading Time: 2 minutes The MND research blog aims to provide you with up-to-date information on the research development team’s activities as well as exciting news on MND research. You can view this information anytime by clicking on the ‘How to use this blog’ tab in the top right hand corner. What is a blog? The word ‘blog’ stands for…

Stem cells and growth factors: from bench to bedside

Reading Time: 4 minutes After a brilliant first day at ENCALS, which included a talk by Dr Johannes Brettschneider, the second day began with a talk by Thierry Latran Speaker Prof Clive Svendsen (Director of the Cedars-Sinai Regenerative Medicine Institute) arriving directly from attending at the Anne Rowling Regenerative Neurology Symposium. Prof Svendsen gave a riveting talk to over…