UK MND Research Institute: Translating into treatment for MND - is the time now?
UK MND Research Institute: Translating into treatment for MND - is the time now?
Theme: Treatments and translational neuroscience
Sunday 23rd April, 16:20 – 18:00
Session convened by MND Scotland, MND Association and My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
Translational research into motor neuron disease (MND, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS) is at a pivotal moment. In recent years there has been both advances in our understanding of disease mechanism and development of innovative tools (such as human stem cell and gene editing technologies). We are now at the point where we can accelerate drug discovery by employing the entire translational pathway from discovery science to clinical trials. Instigated by the patient driven United2endMND campaign, which succeeded in securing UK Government funding, the UK MND Research Institute (UK MND RI) is a new coordinated national effort, which brings together MND research centres in partnership with patients, charities, government funders and industry, to identify new drug targets, develop new therapies and test treatments rapidly in the patient population. In this symposium we will showcase some of the world-leading translational MND research already taking place across the UK and outline plans for the future of the UK MND RI.
- Ammar Al-Chalabi, King's College London, UK: The challenges of motor neuron disease research and the opportunities ahead (co-chair)
- Arpan Mehta, University of Edinburgh and UCL, UK: MND-SMART - delivering innovation in clinical trials from bench to bedside (co-chair)
- Pamela Shaw, University of Sheffield, UK: Translational pipeline of potential neuroprotective therapies and biomarkers
- Alex Thompson, University of Oxford, UK: Identifying early ‘presymptomatic’ disease markers