The biotechnology company, Aquinnah Pharmaceuticals is dedicated to identifying new therapeutic agents for ALS and Alzheimer’s disease, based on a new scientific approach of RNA binding proteins involved in neurodegenerative disease. Last week, Aquinnah announced a $10 million investment from two world leader pharmaceutical companies Pfizer, Inc. and AbbVie Inc. to support therapeutic development to treat ALS, Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.
This year at the 69th Annual American Academy of Neurology Meeting in Boston, thousands of neuroscientists came together to share their research and collaborate. Here we report the latest ALS research findings presented at the meeting by distinguished researchers, who were chosen to speak based on scientific merit.
Today, we are pleased to feature ALS researcher Dr. Sabrina Paganoni from Massachusetts General Hospital and Spaulding Rehab Hospital. She is this year’s recipient of the Clinician Scientist Development Award in ALS Research given in partnership with the American Academy of Neurology (AAN).
Dr. John Ravits, Professor of Clinical Neurosciences and Head of the ALS Translational Research Program at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) is a physician-scientist at the forefront of ALS thought and research of sporadic and familial ALS. Yesterday, at the 69th Annual American Academy of Neurology (AAN) Meeting in Boston, he was presented the prestigious 2017 Sheila Essey Award by Dick Essey, founder of the award named in honor of his wife Sheila who battled with ALS for ten years and died from the disease in 2004.
Today, we are happy to feature Dr. Nicholas Olney, this year’s recipient of the prestigious Clinical Research Training Fellowship in ALS Research Award given in partnership with the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). Dr. Olney is currently working on an ALS biomarker project aimed at developing clinical markers of disease progression, a major unmet need in ALS, at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) School of Medicine under the mentorship of Drs. Howard Rosen, Cathy Lomen-Hoerth and Bruce Miller.
Last month, Dr. Leonard Petrucelli at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville in Florida and colleagues reported discovering a new ALS biomarker that specifically detects a protein made by the C9orf72 expansion, the most common inherited cause of ALS. Their results are crucial to complement an upcoming clinical trial testing antisense drugs targeting the C9orf72 expansion. The ALS Association supported this study, including funding to bright, young scientists that significantly contributed to this project – past and current Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellows, Drs. Tania Gendron, Marka van Blitterswijk, Veronique Belzil, Mercedes Prudencio from the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville and Clinical Research Fellow, Dr. Lindsey Hayes from Johns Hopkins University. The paper with Drs. Tania Gendron, Jeannie Chew, Jeannette Stankowski and Lindsey Hayes as co-first authors, along with 78 contributing researchers, was featured on the Science Translational Medicine front cover of the March 29th issue, which is a great scientific honor.
Today, we welcome a guest scientist blogger, Dr. Sandrine Da Cruz from University of California San Diego (UCSD). She, along with her colleagues, just published an important paper that looks into how SOD1 misfolding, the second most common inherited cause of ALS, impacts sporadic ALS (SALS).
Last week, AB Science announced that the Masitinib phase 2/3 clinical trial reached its primary endpoint of ALSFRS-R in people living with ALS. Currently, the company has applied for conditional marketing approval to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in Europe and is sharing results with officials at the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to decide next steps in the U.S.
The Association is pleased to continue on the tradition of supporting bright, young scientists in ALS research through the Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. This year, we are supporting six new postdoctoral fellows out of a highly competitive applicant pool. In this series, we highlight the dedication and unique contribution each fellow makes to ALS research. Today, we feature Dr. Amanda Gleixner from the University of Pittsburgh.
The Association is pleased to continue on the tradition of supporting bright, young scientists in ALS research through the Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. This year, we are supporting six new postdoctoral fellows out of a highly competitive applicant pool. In this series, we highlight the dedication and unique contribution each fellow makes to ALS research. Today, we feature Dr. Vicente Valenzuela from University of Chile.
This week, former San Francisco 49ers receiver Dwight Clark announced he has ALS. He joins other NFL football greats including Steve Gleason, Tim Shaw, Kevin Turner, O.J. Brigance, and others, who have been diagnosed with ALS following their pro football careers. These announcements have brought much attention to the connection between football and traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the question of whether such injuries from football can lead to ALS or chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Here, we highlight some research behind the possible connection.
The Association is pleased to continue on the tradition of supporting bright, young scientists in ALS research through the Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. This year, we are supporting six new postdoctoral fellows out of a highly competitive applicant pool. In this series, we highlight the dedication and unique contribution each fellow makes to ALS research. Today, we feature Dr. Jeanne McKeon from University of Massachusetts Medical School.
The Association is pleased to continue on the tradition of supporting bright, young scientists in ALS research through the Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. This year, we are supporting six new postdoctoral fellows out of a highly competitive applicant pool. In this series, we highlight the dedication and unique contribution each fellow makes to ALS research. Today, we feature Dr. Bruno Miguel da Cruz Godinho from University of Massachusetts Medical School.
This week, The ALS Association in partnership with ALS Finding a Cure® (ALSFAC) announced the $1 million winner of the TDP-43 Grand Challenge – a team led by Dr. Timothy Miller of Washington University in St. Louis, including Drs. Paul Kotzbauer, Vijay Sharma, Nigel Cairns and Yuna Ayala of Saint Louis University. The team is developing a unique imaging biomarker to track TDP-43, a protein found in almost all cases of ALS.
Research supported by The ALS Association has led to the discovery of a new and simple test to monitor disease progression in people with ALS and potentially to help evaluate drugs under investigation in ALS clinical trials.
The Association is pleased to continue on the tradition of supporting bright, young scientists in ALS research through the Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. This year, we are supporting six new postdoctoral fellows out of a highly competitive applicant pool. In this series, we highlight the dedication and unique contribution each fellow makes to ALS research. Today, we feature Dr. Tiffany Todd from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla.
The Association is pleased to continue on the tradition of supporting bright, young scientists in ALS research through the Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. This year, we are supporting six new postdoctoral fellows out of a highly competitive applicant pool. In this series, we highlight the dedication and unique contribution each fellow makes to ALS research. Today, we feature Dr. Sergey Stavisky from Stanford University.
ALS is characterized by the progressive loss of motor neurons – both upper motor neurons (UMNs) and lower motor neurons (LMNs). Within the ALS scientific community there has been a debate how UMNs and LMNs contribute to disease. Dr. Ozdinler and team from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago recently published a paper in Scientific Reports, a high impact journal published by Nature, further solidifying the important contribution of UMNs to disease specifically in people living with ALS. The ALS Association is pleased to support Dr. Ozdinler’s studies that contributed to this important paper.
In the January 9th issue of Neurotherapeutics, Dr. Richard Smith, Director of the Center for Neurologic Study in La Jolla, Calif. published promising results of a phase II trial testing the effect of Nuedexta on bulbar function. Overall, he and his co-authors found that Nuedexta had a significant palliative effect on speech, swallowing and salivation in people living with ALS. The ALS Association contributed to the funding of this trial.
During The ALS Association’s annual Leadership Conference in Irvine, Calif., The Association came together to honor the Barnett family, who have contributed over $11 million to The ALS Association since it was founded. Lawrence Barnett was the founding chairman of The Association. To solidify the family’s place in Association history, it was announced that the TREAT ALSTM drug development program will be named “The Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Drug Development Program.”