News

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…

The ALS Guardian Angels Foundation, a 501(C)(3) charity founded in 2007 by retired drug company executive Stuart Millheiser, 63, of Orange County, California, knows that most ALS related organizations are dedicated to finding a cure for the devastating neurodegenerative disease. However, until such a cure is found, he also know…

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…

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…

Decoder innovations to the investigational BrainGate brain-computer interface (BCI) being developed at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, now allow the system to recalibrate itself. This enhancement enables users to work with BrainGate for longer sessions without interruptions for recalibration by technical staff. A research article published in…

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…

Avalon Ventures, a venture capital firm that has founded and/or funded more than 127 information technology and life sciences companies, and multinational pharma firm GSK have announced an expansion of their collaboration to fund and launch early-stage life science companies in the San Diego, California, area. The Avalon/GSK…

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…

Some forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) could actually be caused by an infectious virus, with scientists reporting that human endogenous retrovirus-K (HERV-K), normally dormant, has been found in an active form in the postmortem brain cells of certain individuals with ALS. Experiments using the active HERV-K in cells grown in…