Our research

Our mission is to accelerate the search for a cure for motor neuron disease. Our research programme takes what we learn from our patients into the laboratory, using that knowledge to build possible treatments, then tests those possible treatments in clinical trials. Our programme of work has already started and is growing.

Our vision

Our vision of the UK MND Research Institute is to accelerate drug discovery from laboratory science to phase 3 clinical trials, to make MND a curable condition.

Better understand the biological processes involved and underpinning MND – what is happening in MND?
Identify and develop new biomarkers that flag disease and enable us measure how disease progresses – are there tests we can do to diagnose and assess MND?
Develop new and better measurements to use in clinical trials, including improving the ALS Functional Rating Scale, a widely used but flawed outcome measure for trials in ALS – can we make trials quicker, easier and more accurate?
Develop and test new potential therapies- the only way to find a cure is to have lots of possible treatments to test.
Use the TiM platform to report symptoms directly to care teams across the UK- can we work with patients directly to understand MND?

Understanding the patient and disease process

We have three programmes looking to understand MND in detail; MND Register and biobank, Telehealth in Medicine (TiM) – Research, and Trajectories of Outcomes in Neurological Conditions (TONiC).

Find out more