S27: New approaches to diagnostics, biomarkers and trial drug selection in MND – highlighting UK MND translational research

Convened by MND Association, My Name'5 Doddie Foundation & MND Scotland

The session will consist of four speakers, each delivering a 20 min talk (each with 5 minute questions). The order of the talks will take us through a journey exploring cutting edge work in the UK transitional MND space: We will start with an introduction to the UK MND Research Institute from one of the institute’s lead PI’s, and an outline of its flagship, innovative, drug prioritization trial in humans, which launches in 2024. We will then be introduced to technology from the cancer community that is being newly applied in neuroscience, and holds out the hope that it can be developed as a diagnostic tool – something that is desperately needed for MND. We then explore whether identifying targets through the relatively new approach of looking at cryptic exons can help develop biomarkers for MND, again, something that is desperately needed. We will end with an overview of the current state of the MND treatment pipeline and what sort of targets we are likely to see featuring in clinical trials in the future.

• Chair: Professor Martin Turner - EXPERTS-ALS: a new approach to prioritising drug candidates for clinical trials
• Chair: Dr Holly Spence - RNA aptamer development for MND diagnosis
• Dr Puja Mehta - Can correcting multiple cryptic exons help us develop a treatment for ALS?
• Dr Jill Richardson - Finding Molecules to Save Lives: Motor Neuron Disease