ALS Research Roundup

Your monthly dose of all things ALS!

By Benjamin Musrie, Medical Researcher. Sydney, Australia.

GenieUs genomics announced the introduction of their very own newsletter last month — the ‘ALS research roundup’. It is a curated snapshot of recent research in the field of the neurodegenerative disorder — Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We present brief overviews of academic research published each month across a range of mechanistic and therapeutic topics, with a particular focus on potential clinical applications.

ALS is a devastating progressive nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The disorder causes a loss of muscle control, impacting an individual’s ability to walk, speak, swallow, breathe — every aspect of their lives. Currently, there is no cure and no effective treatment to halt or reverse the progression of the disease and so, there is an urgent need to fill this gap.

In recent years, efforts have grown in the fight to end ALS. New genes connected to the disease have been discovered, access to multidisciplinary care has expanded and more treatments are undergoing clinical trials. The application of novel genomic methods is largely considered to be the most effective way of generating translational breakthroughs in ALS.

At GenieUs, we don’t think that neurodegenerative diseases occur the same way in each person. In fact, our own data tells us the opposite. Thus, the ‘one size fits all’ therapeutic…