Firstly, Dr Cathleen Lutz (The Jackson Laboratory, USA) discussed the range of current mouse models of MND and the potential for generating new models. Lutz explored the many reasons why MND is a hard disease to model, and how the SOD1-G93A model has become the ‘workhorse’ for MND mouse modelling. However, as subgroups and new…… Continue reading Session 4A: Disease Models
Leonard Petruccelli commenced the session discussing mechanisms of toxicity and therapeutic approaches for C9FTD/ALS, beginning by highlighting the enormous advancement in the understanding of the genetics and neuropathology of FTD and ALS since 2006. The three proposed mechanism of C9orf72 mutations were presented; 1) a gain of toxicity as a result of RNA foci in…… Continue reading C9orf72 and novel therapeutics: report from ENCALS Friday 22nd May 2015 – Oral Session 3
Modelling a complex condition such as ALS in a laboratory is an understandably difficult concept, and it is perhaps unsurprising that we don’t yet have the perfect model. This session early on a Saturday morning looked at the different approaches to using cells in the lab to investigate ALS. The first speaker and one of…… Continue reading How can we model ALS in the lab? – Session 5A – In Vitro Modelling
We were introduced to the topic by a very insightful plenary lecture by Laura Ranum, Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology at the University of Florida. Professor Ranum started out by describing how the central dogma of molecular biology, namely that DNA makes RNA makes protein, had been modified during the last decade using examples…… Continue reading Symposium report: Session 2A RNA processing and dysregulation
Wendy Noble (King’s College London) who helped organise the Biochemical Society and British Neuroscience Association focused meeting “Astrocytes in Health and Neurodegenerative Disease”, Institute of Child Health, London, 28 – 29 April 2014, blogs about the event. Researchers from King’s College London, the University of Manchester and the University of California at Los Angeles organized…… Continue reading Conference report – A focus on astrocytes in MND research
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