Department of Defense To Open Grant Application Cycle for ALS Research

On February 23rd, the office of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) released a pre-announcement through the Department of Defense Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research Program (ALSRP) for the opening of the FY15 appropriations grant application cycle.  This pre-announcement is meant to give investigators the opportunity to begin preparations for submitting…

A research team led by Diego Minciacchi of the University of Florence in Italy identified a population of neurons that might explain the cognitive alterations antecedent to motor symptoms in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The study entitled, “Increased anxiety-like behavior and selective learning impairments are concomitant to…

A study at King’s College London with patients recruited from the South-East ALS Register in England concluded that decision-making processes for ALS patients are complex, multidimensional and need individualized treatment and more patient-focused support. The results were presented in a publication entitled: “Accepting or…

In a new study entitled “Neuronal death induced by misfiled prion protein is due to NAD+ depletion and can be relieved in vitro and in vivo by NAD+ replenishment,” researchers report that in protein misfolding neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, neuronal death…

In a new study entitled “Transcriptome profiling of expression changes during neuronal death by RNA-Seq,” a research team employed RNA-sequencing to identify novel genes that might help regulate the death of neurons, a characteristic of neurodegenerative diseases. The study was published in the journal…

Investigators at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine are currently enrolling participants for a clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00821132), that aims to identify genes that increase risk for sporadic Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or cause inherited ALS. The study, entitled “Identification of Genes Causing Familial ALS or Increasing Risk…

BioMotiv is a drug advancement accelerator associated with The Harrington Project, the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), and University of Washington, Seattle working on breakthrough discoveries and new therapeutics that have the potential to address unmet clinical needs. Recently, the accelerator announced the creation of a platform company, OptiKira, that will…