Author Archives: Malika Ammam, PhD

Researchers in China recently evaluated the changes of ferritin levels in the brain’s cerebrospinal fluid of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). They found that ALS patients exhibited significantly increased levels of ferritin, an iron-based protein, a result that indicates ferritin has value as a biomarker and could be used for…

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan, in collaboration with several U.S. institutions, suggest that the collapse of the mitochondria‐associated membranes (MAM) is linked to the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Mitochondria‐associated membranes regulate calcium levels, mitochondrial function, and cell death in the body, and have been linked to neurodegenerative…

Researchers have succeeded in using an imaging technique to record changes and inflammation in the brain of a person with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), using a potential biomarker of inflammation. The research, conducted at  The Neurological Clinical Research Institute (NCRI) at Massachusetts General Hospital, is part of the  TRACK ALS project to identify imaging markers of ALS, so…

Yumanity Therapeutics has recently licensed a prodrug invented at the University of Arizona (UA), adding it to the company’s expanding platform of potential therapies for neurodegenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Neurodegenerative diseases result from errors made during the building and folding processes of proteins within the cell. In 2009, UA…

Detailed new insights into communication between neurons and how those interactions are affected by damage to synapses (junction points among neurons), leading to neurodegenerative diseases like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), are revealed in a new study entitled “Hsc70-4 Deforms Membranes to Promote Synaptic Protein Turnover by Endosomal Microautophagy,” published in the journal…

On Nov. 19, ALS Societies across Canada and the ALS Canada Research Program in partnership with Brain Canada announced results from this year’s ALS Ice Bucket Challenge as well as the new list of grant recipients from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research competitions held in 2015. ALS is a disease that involves a gradual…

Amylyx Pharmaceuticals was recently awarded $600,000 from the ALS Finding a Cure Foundation and the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, in addition to an estimated $1.3 million raised through private investors, to develop its lead drug candidate AMX0035 for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in a clinical trial planned for…

A large-sample study investigating a possible association between anxiety-depressive disorders in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease (ALS/MND) in the People’s Republic of China was recently conducted. The study, entitled “Frequency and risk factor analysis of cognitive and anxiety-depressive disorders in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neuron disease,” was published in…

In a newly published paper in the Science Translation Medicine journal entitled “Human endogenous retrovirus-K induces motor neuron disease“, researchers from the National Institutes of Health found ancient viral genes left in the human genome might awaken to harm neurons and contribute to the development…

Genervon Biopharmaceuticals has recently announced that one if its lead products, GM604, was able to regulate the levels of a protein called TDP-43 and slow disease progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. ALS results in the progressive loss of structure and function of neurons, ultimately leading to their death. Symptoms depend…