Reading Time: 4 minutes Omega-3 fatty acids have been in the media a great deal over recent years. They can lower our risk of heart disease and they may even have neuroprotective properties (for example limit damage to the brain and spinal cord after acute injuries). But, what about in MND? Could this dietary supplement have an effect? MND…
Reading Time: 4 minutes The European Network for a cure of ALS (ENCALS) held its 11th Annual meeting in Sheffield from 31 May to the 2 June. The weekend was full of glorious British sunshine and more than 200 international scientists and clinicians were also able to enjoy a range of incredibly interesting talks about the latest developments in…
Reading Time: 2 minutes With over 140 million active users Twitter has grown up a lot since it arrived in 2006. This means that Twitter can be an extremely powerful tool for engaging, influencing and reaching out to a wide range of audiences across the world. Twitter is a social network (like Facebook and Google+) which allows you to…
Reading Time: 2 minutes The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has launched their ‘It’s OK to ask campaign’ which encourages patients and the public to ask about clinical research. The campaign was launched on Monday (20 May 2013), ‘International Clinical Trials Day’ and the NIHR will be promoting this campaign throughout 2013/14. “Clinical research is the way in which…
Reading Time: 4 minutes In 2011 an international team of scientists, including three MND Association-funded researchers, identified the elusive C9orf72 gene located on Chromosome 9. Since this ground-breaking discovery, researchers from around the world have been trying to find a way to open-up and reveal more about this MND-causing gene. Determined to get inside and unravel the secrets behind…
Reading Time: 3 minutes Results from a phase I clinical trial of a drug known as ISIS 333611 have been published open-access online in the scientific journal Lancet Neurology on 29 March 2013. This is the first time researchers have tested the effects of delivering an antisense oligonucleotide directly into the human cerebral spinal fluid (the fluid between the spinal…
Reading Time: 4 minutes Each and every one of us is made up of thousands of different ingredients, which all combine together to create something amazing; life. Perhaps the most important of these are proteins. Each protein in the body has its own special job to do. From making our muscles contract to controlling blood sugar, proteins are an…
Reading Time: 3 minutes Every March, Brain Awareness Week (11 – 17 March 2013) unites people of all ages worldwide to raise awareness of brain research. There are 45 free events across the UK, including seminars and school visits. On the evening of the 11 March Belinda attended the free award ceremony for the winner of the Europe PubMed…
Reading Time: 3 minutes A recent study by Motor Neurone Disease Association-funded researcher Dr Tennore Ramesh from the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN) has shown that even before the symptoms of MND occur, at the earliest stages of the disease, ‘connector neurones’ known as interneurons are already becoming damaged in the zebrafish. Zebrafish are ideal models for helping…
Reading Time: < 1 minute November has been an incredibly busy time for us, not because of Christmas, but because the 23rd International Symposium on ALS/MND is now only one week away! We’ve been incredibly busy building up for this year’s symposium including; preparing the final abstract book, promoting the #alssymp hashtag on Twitter and gathering enough information to support Belinda before she…
