impact January 2017
HOW YOUR SUPPORT IS BRINGING US CLOSER TO A WORLD FREE FROM MND
Progress starts with you
Project MinE: new gene discovery reveals much about the causes of MND. You may remember a huge amount of press surrounding Project MinE last summer. Thanks to your support researchers identified two new genes linked to MND; C21orf2 and NEK1. This discovery has helped us gain a better understanding of why some people develop MND. The goal of Project MinE is to find all these rare mutations in genes that cause MND. Each MND gene that we find gives us an insight into the disease process and enables researchers to
Making your mark Update on Project AMBRoSIA
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look into possible treatments such as gene therapy – which involves replacing faulty genes or adding new ones.
open up new avenues of research across the world.” Dr Brian Dickie, Director of Research Development.
Project MinE is the first genome sequencing project to date and is a huge collaborative effort, involving researchers in 16 countries. “We are pleased to have been involved since this approach to gene hunting was in its infancy a decade ago. It’s so encouraging to see how the collaboration has grown and is now delivering results that will
Since the start of Project MinE in 2013 the speed of MND gene discovery has dramatically increased. In total the project has now lead to the discovery of 4 MND genes: TUBA4A, TBK1, NEK1 and C21orf2. We wouldn’t have been able to make these significant advances without your support.
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