By Tania Gendron

As assistant professor of Neuroscience at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL, I fight ALS by working every day in the lab to find a cure for this devastating disease. My work focuses on optimizing ALS biomarkers to track and better understand the most common genetic mutation in inherited ALS, called C9orf72.

The ALS Association has supported this work as part of the TREAT ALS™ global research program to accelerate ALS biomarker progress.

I’m happy to report that my colleagues and I have made significant advances and recently published a paper in Annals of Neurology titled, “Phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain: A biomarker of survival for C9orf72-associated amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.”

I am extremely thankful to have received funding from The ALS Association and its donors to support my investigations on ALS biomarkers, as well as studies to uncover the molecular mechanisms that cause ALS.

It is my great hope that findings from my research will significantly contribute to the development of an effective treatment for ALS.

I am hopeful that the results of my study will ultimately improve the design of clinical trials and, thus, their success.