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Gene Identification in Motor Neurone Disease

Irish-led researchers make groundbreaking discovery into causes of Motor Neurone Disease. An international team of researchers led by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) and Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital, has made a groundbreaking discovery into the causes of Motor Neurone Disease.

The Irish-led research team has identified a novel gene which plays a role in causing the disease and reveals, in a new study published today (February 26) in Nature Genetics (online), that mutations in this gene can run in families and are the likely cause of the disease. The research is being seen as a significant leap forward in understanding MND and the search for its cure.

The work was funded in part by the Health Research Board (HRB) as a North/South collaboration between Dr Orla Hardiman, Consultant Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital and Senior Lecturer, Clinical Neuroscience, RCSI; Dr. Victor Patterson, Consultant Neurologist, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast and HRB Clinical Research Fellow Dr Matt Greenway, Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences, RCSI. The work was also carried out in collaboration with Professor Andrew Greene, Professor of Genetics, and Dr. Sean Ennis, Senior Research Scientist, both from the National Centre for Medical Genetics, Our Lady’s Hospital Crumlin, and the Conway Institute, University College Dublin (UCD) School of Medicine and Medical Science.

To view the full press release please click here.

To view the published paper, please see the online current issue of Nature Genetics http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/index.html
Publication will be on April 2nd 2006

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