News

In ALS and Neurodegenerative Diseases, Synapses Ability to Cleanse Is Key

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…

New Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Biomarker Identified in Study

Researchers have discovered a potential new biomarker for amyotropic lateral sclerosis (ALS) — microRNA-206 — from studies using an experimental mouse model and the blood serum of 12 people with ALS. The report describing their research, titled “MicroRNA-206: A Potential Circulating Biomarker Candidate for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis,” appeared in the…

In ALS, Sensory Neurons Found to Be Affected Early

In a recent study published in the Journal of Comparative Neurology, researchers found that the same sensory neurons that keep a person from dropping a glass of water are implicated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and because these  neurons are easier to study in the laboratory than motor neurons, they…

Amylyx’s ALS Drug to Enter a Clinical Trial in 2016

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…

New ALS Study of Ibudilast in Patients Set to Start

MediciNova, Inc. recently announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the protocol of a novel clinical trial in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to assess MN-166 (ibudilast) on a biomarker of ALS. The Phase 2a trial, titled “A Single-Center, Open-Label Biomarker Study to…

ALS Neuroscience Focus Turns to Promising RNA Research

This week the ALS Association, whose mission is to lead the fight to treat and cure ALS through global research and nationwide advocacy, has highlighted important research from the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Society For Neuroscience, an event that took place in Chicago, Oct. 17–21. This meeting is the premiere venue…