Local Member for Davenport (including Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University), Erin Thompson, MP visited the Motor Neurone Disease & Neurotrophic Laboratory (MND&NR), at FHMRI on Tuesday 31 January.

MND is an incurable disease, with a life expectancy of just 2-5 years post-diagnosis. The MND&NR lab is the only dedicated MND research laboratory in South Australia

Erin Thompson, MP has a keen interest in MND research and has been involved in the Malinauskas State Government’s recent $2.4M contribution to care for South Australian MND patients at home who are over 65.

Here at Flinders University, the MND&NR lab is working on ways to test MND treatments and is also investigating how MND starts. The close association of the MND&NR laboratory with the multiple-disciplinary MND clinic located in the Flinders Medical Centre (led by Assoc Prof David Schultz and includes specialists Dr. Vinod Aiyappan) is unique, allowing a valuable collaboration in the global effort to find a cure for MND.

Erin Thompson toured the MND&NR laboratory, including the Ian Davis Biomarker Facility, which has specialised equipment to test if MND treatments are working.

Images and words supplied by Mary-Louise Rodgers.