Biomarkers in motor neuron disease – a longitudinal translational neuroimaging and CSF study

Description:

MRC/MND Association / Lady Edith Wolfson Fellowship

About Dr Turner:

“I am a Consultant Neurologist at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford and I have been privileged to be involved in MND research for nearly a decade.

“I have been passionate about MND ever since I took the first step (in 1999) to start a PhD in MND research at King’s. It was always important to me to complete my training and become a consultant-level neurologist. I resumed this training in 2004, knowing that by 2007 I would have to decide whether to go for the ‘security’ of a full-time NHS consultant position or to follow my passion back into MND research by applying for an ‘academic’ position, accepting the long-term uncertainty this might bring for me and my family.

“At the moment there can be difficulty in persuading doctors to take an academic route that offers relatively limited job security, compared with the NHS ‘job for life’ model. These fellowships provide a real alternative for enthusiastic and dedicated researchers, and I hope it will encourage others to stay in the field.

“Through this award I hope to play my part, along with the many other dedicated scientists, in making some difference to the lives of people who face the enormous task of living with MND, and to those who care for them.”

Dr Kevin Talbot, Director of the Oxford MND Care Centre which is based at the John Radcliffe Hospital, says: “The award of this first fellowship to Martin is a major step forward in maintaining and developing a critical mass of UK neurologists with a research focus on MND.

“He is an exceptionally productive and energetic research neurologist who has already made a significant contribution to the field of MND research.”

What this research means to you:

MND research is being held back by the lack of an early diagnostic test and predictable markers of the progression of the disease – biomarkers. Patients still wait too long for a certain diagnosis of MND and clinical trials are hampered by lengthy study times and variability of the disease between people living with MND. If MND biomarkers can be identified then they could dramatically improve the speed and accuracy with which MND can be diagnosed, and how future treatments are assessed.

Dr Turner explains in more detail:

“Biomarkers might be changes visible on research MRI scans, or substances measurable in the blood or spinal fluid. These would need to be specific for MND and change in a predictable way with the type and progression of the disease. The discovery of such biomarkers could change the way that clinical trials are organised, allowing beneficial drugs to be identified more quickly and ineffective drugs to be discounted sooner. It is also hoped that biomarker discovery, by speeding up diagnosis, could allow drugs to be given at a much earlier stage, which might improve their effectiveness. Biomarkers specific for certain patterns of disease spread in MND would permit improved care planning and might further understanding of disease mechanisms, with the potential to provide new drug development targets.

“The ‘BioMOx’ project aims to study around 70 MND patient volunteers of all disease types, with some healthy volunteers, for one day every six months. The study involves an MRI scan of the brain and the safe removal of fluid samples for analysis. In this way the team hopes to build up a large cohort of MND patients that have been carefully followed through their individual disease pathway, providing the best chance for biomarker discovery.”

Find out more about how to get involved with this exciting research project.