Lou Gehrig's Disease or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a neurological disorder characterized by progressive degeneration of motor neuron cells in the spinal cord and brain, which ultimately results in paralysis and death. The disease takes its less-scientific name from Lou Gehrig, a baseball player with the New York Yankees in the late 1920s and 1930s, who was forced to retire in 1939 as a result of the loss of motor control caused by the disease.
In 1991, a team of researchers linked familial ALS to chromosome 21. Two years later, the SOD1 gene was identified as being associated with many cases of familial ALS. The enzyme coded for by SOD1 carries out a very important function in cells: it removes dangerous superoxide radicals by converting them into non-harmful substances. Defects in the action of this enzyme mean that the superoxide radicals attack cells from the inside, causing their death. Several different mutations in this enzyme all result in ALS, making the exact molecular cause of the disease difficult to ascertain.
Recent research has suggested that treatment with drugs called antioxidants may benefit ALS patients. However, since the molecular genetics of the disease are still unclear, a significant amount of research is still required to design other promising treatments for ALS.
In a push to further speed clinical development of emerging stem cell therapies, Sanford Stem Cell Clinical Center at UC San Diego Health System was named today one of three new "alpha clinics" by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the state's stem cell agency.
Using an innovative exome sequencing strategy, a team of international scientists led by John Landers, PhD, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School has shown that TUBA4A, the gene encoding the Tubulin Alpha 4A protein, is associated with familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal neurological disorder also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.
A new study by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and other institutions suggests a cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
UC Irvine will receive $8 million from the National Institutes of Health to establish one of six national centers dedicated to creating a database of human cellular responses that will accelerate efforts to develop new therapies for many diseases.
BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc., a leading developer of adult stem cell technologies for neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated NurOwn as a Fast Track product for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's Disease).
Investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute have received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to participate in a consortium taking the study of motor neuron disorders - such as Lou Gehrig's disease and spinal muscular atrophy - to a new, comprehensive perspective.
The first animal model for ALS dementia, a form of ALS that also damages the brain, has been developed by Northwestern Medicine- scientists. The advance will allow researchers to directly see the brains of living mice, under anesthesia, at the microscopic level. This will allow direct monitoring of test drugs to determine if they work.
A new study by researchers at the University of Utah School of Medicine sheds light on a longstanding question about the role of mitochondria in debilitating and fatal motor neuron diseases and resulted in a new mouse model to study such illnesses.
Building on a successful three-year pilot project, the National Institutes of Health has awarded more than $64 million to six research institutions to create a database of human cellular responses, the Library of Integrated Network-based Cellular Signatures.
In a new study that could ultimately lead to many new medicines, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have adapted a chemical approach to turn diseased cells into unique manufacturing sites for molecules that can treat a form of muscular dystrophy.
Today's headlines include reports about the Congressional Budget Office's latest projections regarding Medicare and Medicaid spending.
Today, The ALS Association announced it has surpassed $10 million in "Ice Bucket" donations. Specifically, as of Saturday, August 16, 2014, The ALS Association has received $11.4 million in donations compared to $1.7 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 16).
Robert McDonald tells American Veterans national convention that his department is quickly moving to significantly increase the number of veterans referred to doctors outside the system. Also, the department announces that veterans with Lou Gehrig's Disease will be eligible for a government housing program.
A team of researchers at Mayo Clinic and The Scripps Research Institute in Florida have developed a new therapeutic strategy to combat the most common genetic risk factor for the neurodegenerative disorders amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
The ALS Association announced today that it has awarded 21 new research grants totaling nearly $3.5 million to find treatments and a cure for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The grants were awarded to scientists from laboratories located in nine different states in the United States as well as from the United Kingdom, France, Canada, Switzerland, Israel and Australia.
A series of studies begun by Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists eight years ago has lead to a report published today that may be a major step forward in the quest to develop real treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.
Erika Holzbaur, PhD, a professor of Physiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, has received the Javits Neuroscience Investigator Award from the National Institutes of Health.
Neuralstem, Inc. announced that the final patient was treated in its Phase II trial using NSI-566 spinal cord-derived neural stem cells in the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease).
There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, but the research community is one step closer to finding treatment.
ALS stands for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, better known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by the death of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord.
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