Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis News

June 26, 2025

Top Headlines

How Brain Cells Meant to Help May Be Making Depression Worse

June 24, 2025 — Major depressive disorder affects hundreds of millions worldwide, but a key to understanding its origins may lie in the brain’s immune system. New findings spotlight astrocytes—previously overshadowed by microglia—as major players in ...

Brain Reboot: Gene Therapy Reverses Alzheimer’s Memory Loss in Mice

June 24, 2025 — UC San Diego scientists have created a gene therapy that goes beyond masking Alzheimer’s symptoms—it may actually restore brain function. In mice, the treatment protected memory and altered diseased brain cells to behave more like healthy ...

Invisible ID: How a Single Breath Could Reveal Your Health—and Your Identity

June 13, 2025 — Scientists have discovered that your breathing pattern is as unique as a fingerprint and it may reveal more than just your identity. Using a 24-hour wearable device, researchers achieved nearly 97% ...

Brain-Computer Interface Restores Real-Time Speech in ALS Patient

June 12, 2025 — A team at UC Davis has made a major leap in neurotechnology, enabling a man with ALS to speak again through a brain-computer interface that converts thoughts into speech in real time. Unlike prior systems that translated neural signals into text, ...

Immune System Discovery Reveals Potential Solution to Alzheimer's

June 2, 2025 — A new way of thinking about Alzheimer's disease has yielded a discovery that could be the key to stopping the cognitive decline seen in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS and ...

Mitochondrial DNA Mutation Accumulation May Not Be a Determining Factor in Aging

May 29, 2025 — Mutations accumulated in mitochondrial DNA associated with aging were earlier believed to cause aging by decreasing the energy-producing function (mitochondrial respiratory function). In this study, ...

Research Untangles Role of Stress Granules in Neurodegenerative Disease

May 28, 2025 — Scientists found that stabilizing stress granules suppresses the effects of ALS-causing mutations, correcting previous models that imply stress granules promote amyloid ...

Different Versions of APOE Protein Have Varying Effect on Microglia in Alzheimer's Disease

May 27, 2025 — A new study suggests how APOE2 is protective while APOE4 increases disease risk by regulating the brain's immune ...

Experimental Drug May Benefit Some Patients With Rare Form of ALS

May 26, 2025 — Some patients with a rare form of ALS benefited from an experimental therapy, with biomarker evidence of reduced injury to neurons and even limited functional ...

Scientists Design Gene Delivery Systems for Cells in the Brain and Spinal Cord

May 21, 2025 — Research teams have created a versatile set of gene delivery systems that can reach different neural cell types in the human brain and spinal cord with exceptional accuracy. These delivery systems ...

New Research on ALS Opens Up for Early Treatment

May 20, 2025 — Using the gene scissors CRISPR and stem cells, researchers have managed to identify a common denominator for different gene mutations that all cause the neurological disease ALS. The research shows that ALS-linked dysfunction occurs in the energy ...

Maintaining Balance in the Immune System

May 19, 2025 — Researchers have published the first description of the role of the ZFP36 family of RNA binding proteins in regulatory T cells (Tregs). Tregs are key to maintaining balance in the immune system and essential to preventing autoimmune disease. By the ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:55pm EDT

Sugar-Coated Nanotherapy Dramatically Improves Neuron Survival in Alzheimer's Model

May 14, 2025 — In many neurodegenerative diseases, proteins misfold and clump together in brain tissue. Scientists developed a new therapy made of peptides and a ...

May 13, 2025 — Researchers confirm and explore the role of estrogen-related receptors in regulating energy production in muscle cells during exercise. The findings ...

CAR-T Cell Therapy for Cancer Causes 'Brain Fog,' Study Shows

May 12, 2025 — Cancer treatment with a cell-based immunotherapy causes mild cognitive impairment, a Stanford Medicine team found. They also identified compounds that could treat ...

Cell Death Discovery Could Lead to Next-Gen Drugs for Neurodegenerative Conditions

May 12, 2025 — Researchers have discovered how to block cells dying, in a finding that could lead to new treatments for neurodegenerative conditions like ...

Researchers Map 7,000-Year-Old Genetic Mutation That Protects Against HIV

May 9, 2025 — Modern HIV medicine is based on a common genetic mutation. Now, researchers have traced where and when the mutation arose -- and how it protected our ancestors from ancient ...

Unique Model of Rare Epileptic Disease Helps Pinpoint Potential Treatment Route

May 9, 2025 — Scientists have developed a cortical organoid model for UBA5-associated encephalopathy, revealing a new way to possibly address developmental ...

Promising Parkinson's Drug Decoded

May 8, 2025 — How well our brain functions depends heavily on the performance of our nerve cells. That is why they are regularly checked for their proper function -- defective cell components are marked, disposed ...

Incidence of Several Early-Onset Cancers Increased Between 2010 and 2019

May 8, 2025 — In the United States, breast, colorectal, endometrial, pancreatic, and kidney cancers are becoming increasingly common among people under age 50, according to a new ...

Topical Gel Relieved Ear Infections in Animals After Just One Dose

May 6, 2025 — Ear infections are a common and painful occurrence in infants and toddlers. Oral antibiotics are often prescribed for a week to treat the condition, but these drugs can trigger side effects that ...

Harnessing Generative AI to Expand the Mitochondrial Targeting Toolkit

May 5, 2025 — The mitochondrion, often referred to as the powerhouse of the cell, plays critical roles in cellular function, making it a prime organelle to target for fundamental studies, metabolic engineering, ...

How Cellular Quality Control Contributes to Insulin Resistance Related to Type 2 Diabetes

May 2, 2025 — Researchers have revealed critical insights into how impaired mitochondrial dynamics and quality control mechanisms in skeletal muscle influence insulin sensitivity in patients with Type 2 Diabetes, ...

Scientists Engineer Precision Tool for Mitochondrial DNA Manipulation

May 2, 2025 — Many mitochondrial diseases have been difficult to study and treat due to the inherent challenges in accessing mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Now, researchers have optimized mitochondrial-targeted ...

A Protein Link Between Brain Diseases and Leaky Blood Vessels

Apr. 30, 2025 — Reduced levels of a critical protein are linked to devastating brain diseases like Alzheimer's, frontotemporal dementia, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Surprisingly, the protein ...

Bacterial Villain Behind Lake Erie's 'Potent Toxin' Unveiled

Apr. 30, 2025 — In the warm summertime waters of Lake Erie, cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, can proliferate out of control, creating algal blooms that produce toxins at a rate that can harm wildlife and human ...

'Explainable' AI Cracks Secret Language of Sticky Proteins

Apr. 30, 2025 — An AI tool has made a step forward in translating the language proteins use to dictate whether they form sticky clumps similar to those linked to Alzheimer's Disease and around fifty other types ...

Machine Learning Brings New Insights to Cell's Role in Addiction, Relapse

Apr. 30, 2025 — Researchers have applied object recognition technology to track changes in brain cell structure and provide new insights into how the brain responds to heroin use, withdrawal and ...

New 'Hidden in Plain Sight' Facial and Eye Biomarkers for Tinnitus Severity Could Unlock Path to Testing Treatments

Apr. 30, 2025 — Researchers have identified biomarkers for tinnitus severity in subtle facial movements and pupil dilation that can be captured on video recordings. Until now, there has been no objective way to ...

Broader Antibiotic Use Could Change the Course of Cholera Outbreaks, Research Suggests

Apr. 30, 2025 — Recent disease modeling research challenges public health guidelines recommending conservative antibiotic use for cholera, suggesting that for some outbreaks, prescribing antibiotics more ...

First Synthetic 'Mini Prion' Shows How Protein Misfolding Multiplies

Apr. 28, 2025 — Prions transmit their abnormally folded shape onto other proteins. Researchers designed a synthetic fragment of the tau protein that exhibits prion-like behavior. Misfolded tau proteins are the ...

Immune Cells Drive Congenital Paralysis Disease

Apr. 25, 2025 — Patients with spastic paraplegia type 15 develop movement disorders during adolescence that may ultimately require the use of a wheelchair. In the early stages of this rare hereditary disease the ...

Malfunctions in Mitochondria Influence Skeletal Aging

Apr. 24, 2025 — New mechanisms discovered that show how development-dependent disruptions in mitochondrial function lead to premature skeletal ...

ATP Prevents Harmful Aggregation of Proteins Associated With Parkinson's and ALS

Apr. 23, 2025 — While a comprehensive cure-all to these neurological conditions is unlikely, scientists are making headway into understanding their fundamental characteristics with the hope of preventing or ...

Childhood Exposure to Bacterial Toxin May Be Triggering Colorectal Cancer Epidemic Among the Young

Apr. 23, 2025 — An international team has identified a potential microbial culprit behind the alarming rise in early-onset colorectal cancer: a bacterial toxin called colibactin. Scientists report that exposure to ...

Evidence of Potential Bed Bug Insecticide Resistance in Gene Mutation

Apr. 22, 2025 — Urban entomologists have discovered a gene mutation that could contribute to bed bug insecticide ...

Novel Treatment Approach for Language Disorder Shows Promise

Apr. 21, 2025 — Neuroscientists have developed a new treatment approach for a language disorder that combines traditional speech therapy with noninvasive electrical stimulation of the brain. Brain stimulation helped ...

Engineered Microglia Show Promise for Treating Alzheimer's and Other Brain Diseases

Apr. 21, 2025 — A new way to deliver disease-fighting proteins throughout the brain may improve the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders, according to scientists. By engineering ...

Throwing a 'Spanner in the Works' of Our Cells' Machinery Could Help Fight Cancer, Fatty Liver Disease... and Hair Loss

Apr. 18, 2025 — Fifty years since its discovery, scientists have finally worked out how a molecular machine found in mitochondria, the 'powerhouses' of our cells, allows us to make the fuel we need from ...

Soft Brainstem Implant Delivers High-Resolution Hearing

Apr. 18, 2025 — A team has developed a soft, thin-film ABI. The device uses micrometer-scale platinum electrodes embedded in silicone, forming a pliable array just a fraction of a millimeter thick. This novel ...

Study Identifies New Method for Improving Lung Growth and Function in Preterm Infants

Apr. 17, 2025 — A clinical trial conducted in a neonatal intensive care unit has identified a new treatment protocol to improve lung growth and function among preterm ...

Supercharged Mitochondria Spark Aging-Related Blood Disorders

Apr. 16, 2025 — Scientists have discovered how aging blood stem cells acquire mutations that give them a growth edge, creating fertile ground for the development of clonol hematopoiesis, a condition that ...