Via Scoop.it – ALS Lou Gehrig’s Disease
An article published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports a breakthrough using cutting-edge stem cell research, which could speed up the discovery of new treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also known as motor neuron disease (MND) outside the United States. An international research team, led by the Euan MacDonald Centre for Motor Neurone Disease Research at the University of Edinburgh in partnership with researchers from King’s College London; Columbia University, New York; and the University of San Francisco, has created motor neurons using skin cells from a person with an inherited form of ALS/MND. Researchers discovered that abnormalities of a protein called TDP-43, implicated in more than 90% of cases of ALS/MND, resulted in the death of motor neuron cells. This is the first time that scientists have been able to see the direct effect of abnormal TDP-43 on human motor neurons cultured in a dish. Professor Siddharthan Chandran from the University of Edinburgh said, “Using patient stem cells to model MND in a dish offers untold possibilities for how we study the cause of this terrible disease as well as accelerating drug discovery by providing a cost-effective way to test many thousands of potential treatments.”
Via www.prweb.com
ALS Research News 