UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS

Professor Gareth Miles set up his lab at the University of St Andrews in 2007. He now leads a 13-strong team.

The lab focuses on understanding how motor neurones in the brainstem and spinal cord work – and the impact that has on movement.

Researchers are looking at healthy motor systems, as well as those affected by MND.

The MND Association first awarded funding to the lab in 2011 for PhD student Anna-Claire Devlin; her project identified that loss of nerve signalling may be an early sign of MND, by using skin cells to create human motor neurons. A second PhD student, Amit Chouhan, received funding in 2015 to investigate why electrical properties in nerve cells change in MND.