Cure CMD

2013 CMD Family Conference – July 14 & 15

Unab — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:13:12 +0000

The 2013 Family Conference planning is well under way! Please visit the conference webpage to register if you will be attending!

curecmd.org/events/family-conference

Researchers Transform Adult Cells Into Early-Stage Nerve Cells, Bypassing The Pluripotent Stem Cell Stage

admin — Mon, 06 May 2013 07:00:00 +0000

A University of Wisconsin-Madison research group has converted skin cells from people and monkeys into a cell that can form a wide variety of nervous-system cells - without passing through the do-it-all stage called the induced pluripotent stem cell, or iPSC. Bypassing the ultra-flexible iPSC stage was a key advantage, says senior author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology...

Small-Molecule Compound Developed That Could Lead To Therapeutic Treatment For Myotonic Dystrophy

admin — Sat, 04 May 2013 07:00:00 +0000

There's hope for patients with myotonic dystrophy. A new small molecule developed by researchers at the University of Illinois has been shown to break up the protein-RNA clusters that cause the disease in living human cells, an important first step toward developing a pharmaceutical treatment for the as-yet untreatable disease. Steven C...

Hidden Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Cells Revealed By Fluorescence

admin — Thu, 02 May 2013 07:00:00 +0000

A small group of elusive neurons in the brain's cortex play a big role in ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), a swift and fatal neurodegenerative disease that paralyzes its victims. But the neurons have always been difficult to study because there are so few of them and they look so similar to other neurons in the cortex...

Protein, Fatty Molecules And Cellular Energy Work Together During Endocytosis

admin — Thu, 02 May 2013 07:00:00 +0000

Cells ingest proteins and engulf bacteria by a gymnastic, shape-shifting process called endocytosis. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health revealed how a key protein, dynamin, drives the action. Endocytosis lets cells absorb nutrients, import growth factors, prevent infections and accomplish many other vital tasks...

Defective Protein Largely Responsible For Rare, Lethal Childhood Disease Protein

admin — Wed, 01 May 2013 08:00:00 +0000

A team of international researchers led by Northwestern Medicine scientists has identified how a defective protein plays a central role in a rare, lethal childhood disease known as Giant Axonal Neuropathy, or GAN. The finding is reported in the May 2013 Journal of Clinical Investigation...

In Mice Melatonin Delays ALS Symptom Onset And Death

admin — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 07:00:00 +0000

Melatonin injections delayed symptom onset and reduced mortality in a mouse model of the neurodegenerative condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine...

Muscular Dystrophy Researchers Using Firefly Protein To Light Up Degenerating Muscles In Mice

admin — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:00:00 +0000

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have created a mouse model of muscular dystrophy in which degenerating muscle tissue gives off visible light. The observed luminescence occurs only in damaged muscle tissue and in direct proportion to cumulative damage sustained in that tissue, permitting precise monitoring of the disease's progress in the mice, the researchers say...

Reinventing Drug Discovery And A Promising Drug Target For ALS

admin — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 08:00:00 +0000

Using a new stem-cell based drug screening technology with the potential to reinvent and greatly reduce the cost of the way new pharmaceuticals are developed, Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) researchers have found a compound more effective in protecting the neurons killed in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) - Lou Gehrig's disease - than two drugs that failed in human clin...

Patients With Lou Gehrig’s Disease May Benefit From Promising Drug Revealed By New Stem Cell-Based Screen

admin — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 07:00:00 +0000

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also called Lou Gehrig's disease, is a fatal disease that causes motor neurons, which are responsible for controlling muscles, to die. A study published by Cell Press on in Cell Stem Cell has revealed a novel stem-cell-based approach to screen for effective treatments, which are sorely lacking...