During ALS, the brain and spinal cord are damaged by inflammation, called neuro-inflammation. Inflammation is an immune defense system that works when tissue is damaged. Outside the central nervous system (CNS), it is characterized by redness, tenderness and swelling, as chemicals and immune cells converge to clean up the damage.

Dr. Andrew Geronimo is a talented young investigator using brain computer interface (BCI) technology to improve the lives of people living with ALS by enhancing their ability to communicate. He and his mentor Dr. Zachary Simmons, also at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, have received a grant from The ALS Association to develop new opportunities for BCI technology.

Stress granules are clumps of RNA and protein that accumulate in a cell when it experiences stress. This accumulation allows space for specialized RNA-binding proteins that are designed to clean up the cell. Once the cell is cleaned up, the accumulated RNA and protein disperse out of the stress granule, and the cell goes back to continuing its normal function.

Jeff passed away in 2006, after battling for three years. It was a quick ending to a long journey; my family saw him three weeks earlier, then he was gone. Looking back at it almost 10 years later is still difficult, no one likes to think of their loved ones dying, but also it’s been a time to be thankful ALS came into my life.

All of us living with ALS have to have hope: hope for a treatment and hope for a cure. That’s why I’m excited about a new report that came out today from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and The ALS Association, “Medicines in Development for Rare Diseases.”

Meet Dr. James Connor, an ALS researcher who leads a team at Penn State Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, PA that recently received an ALS Association Investigator-Initiated grant to move his exciting research forward. The ALS Association spoke with Dr. Connor about his investigations into how a therapeutic iron solution is potentially protective in ALS and how collaboration at Hershey bridges the lab and the ALS clinic.

Since 1996, the Sheila Essey Award for ALS Research has been presented by Dick Essey at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting, in memory of his wife Sheila, who battled ALS for 10 years and passed in 2004. This year, the award was presented to Ammar Al-Chalabi, Ph.D., FRCP, DipStat from King’s College London. Find out how Dr. Al-Chalabi’s work is driving progress in ALS research forward.

Collaboration is a cornerstone of The ALS Association’s global research program. That’s why The Association hosts an annual ALS Drug Company Working Group that brings together representatives from pharmaceutical companies and academia to discuss how to move ALS research and therapy development forward.

Early development of potential therapeutics is a major bottleneck in ALS therapy development. Eliminating this bottleneck is a significant opportunity for accelerating new treatments. That’s where the Neuro Collaborative comes in.

Javier Jara, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor in Dr. Hande Ozdinler’s laboratory in the Department of Neurology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. He was funded by The ALS Association’s Milton Safenowitz Post-Doctoral Fellowship for ALS Research from 2010-2012 and recently was awarded his own Investigator-Initiated grant by The Association.