Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

The Merfeld Family Foundation Scholarship Fund — a national scholarship to help children of parents with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pay for their college education — is now accepting applications for the fall 2012 term.

The deadline to apply for one of four $2,500 scholarships is Jan. 6.

The scholarship fund was established by Greg Merfeld, who received an ALS diagnosis in 2010 at age 49. Merfeld has lost more than 20 relatives to the disease, which runs in his family.

Newly published data confirm that in a two-part phase 2 clinical trial, the experimental therapy dexpramipexole showed dose-related slowing of symptom progression and increased survival time in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The findings were published online Nov. 20, 2011, in Nature Medicine by principal investigator Merit Cudkowicz (director of the MDA/ALS Center at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a member of MDA’s Medical Advisory Committee) and colleagues.

ALS experts talked about the state of research, and industry leaders discussed ways to improve the pace and efficiency of ALS drug development at the 2011 ALS TDI Leadership Summit, Nov. 4, 2011. The Summit, an annual conference hosted by the MDA-supported ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI), took place in Cambridge, Mass., and was broadcast live over the Internet.

Editor's note 3/19/12: This story has been updated to reflect that Neuralstem has begun testing its stem cells in the cervical (neck) region of the spinal cord.

Two human clinical trials to test therapies in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are moving forward.

An MDA-supported team of scientists has demonstrated in rats that nervous system support cells called astrocytes carrying an SOD1 mutation cause neighboring motor neurons to deteriorate and die.

The finding adds to a growing body of evidence that the star-shaped cells play a key role in the motor neuron degeneration that is the hallmark of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease). Astrocytes normally support and protect motor neurons.

Saying Marvin “Troy” Ellis used to be an active guy would be an understatement. A brick mason by day, the Madisonville, Ky., resident typically was up before the crack of dawn to do the first of his two-a-day workouts. A former high school star athlete, he spent his work days on construction sites, laying brick and pouring concrete. Then on weekends, he’d clean up and put on the clothes of his other profession, an ordained Baptist minister.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System for treatment of hypoventilation (inadequate breathing) in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Two independent research teams have identified a mutation in the gene for chromosome 9 open reading frame 72 (C9ORF72) as the most common cause found to date of familialALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and ALS with FTD (ALS-FTD).