Les Turner Symposium on ALS brings researchers and clinicians to discuss new research findings

The 15^th annual Les Turner Symposium on ALS will be held on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025 in Chicago. Hosted by the Les Turner ALS Foundation and the Les Turner ALS Center at Northwestern Medicine, this event will gather leading ALS researchers and clinicians to discuss the latest research and perspectives on the disease.

There is no cost to attend the symposium or watch the presentations online. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) will provide opening remarks by video, discussing the importance of continued funding for ALS research.

The keynote address, Development of Designer DNA Drug Therapy for Neurodegenerative Disease, will be delivered by Don Cleveland, PhD, who holds the title of Distinguished Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University California San Diego. An internationally heralded expert in cancer biology, he earned a PhD in biochemistry from Princeton University. He has been elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Medicine.

Cleveland purified and characterized the first microtubule associated protein – tau – which misassembles in Alzheimer's disease and chronic brain injury. He uncovered mechanisms of motor neuron degeneration in ALS, demonstrating both neurofilament disorganization and toxicity of mutant superoxide dismutase. He showed that motor neuron death in inherited ALS is non-cell autonomous, requiring mutant damage to both neurons and neighboring glial cells. He developed "designer DNA drugs" (antisense oligonucleotides) for silencing disease-causing genes, with clinical trials now ongoing in ALS, Huntington's, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's diseases.

Scientific discoveries lay the foundation for the development of effective treatment strategies. This symposium is designed to bring scientists together and allow us to share unpublished data, ideas, and plans for the future. We'll share exciting current developments in preclinical studies and drug discovery efforts, and how those translate to treatment strategies."

P. Hande Ozdinler, PhD, associate professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and organizer of the event

Dr. Cleveland will be joined by researchers from University College London, the Université de Montréal, and Northwestern University. They will explore new research on critical topics in ALS, including:

They will explore new research on critical topics in ALS, including:

• Insights into RNA Granule and Mitochondria Crosstalk in ALS from Super-Resolution Live Microscopy by Yvette Wong, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
• New Disease Mechanisms and Therapeutic Approaches for C9orf72 ALS/FTD by Adrian Isaacs, PhD, Professor of Neurodegenerative Disease at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and a founding investigator of the UK Dementia Research Institute
• Defective Transport of Large Dense-Core Vesicles Underlies Neurodegeneration in ALS5/SPG11 Han-Xiang Deng, MD, PhD, research professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
• Stress Granules in ALS/FTD by Christine Vande Velde, PhD, Full Professor in the Department of Neurosciences at the Université de Montréal and Université de Montréal Hospital Research Center
• Gene Therapy Approaches by P. Hande Ozdinler, PhD, associate professor of neurology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

In the afternoon, Senda Ajroud-Driss, MD will lead a Q&A session with Dr. Cleveland. Attendees will also have the opportunity to network over breakfast and lunch, and to enjoy the mid-day poster session.