New medical equipment for a novel biomarker facility will be installed in the College of Medicine and Public Health, with a grant from national fundraising organisation FightMND.
The purchase of a new robotics system at Flinders is part of vital work the University is doing to find much needed treatments, and even a cure for MND.
Flinders University Scientist Dr Mary-Louise Rogers led the team (that included Dr Tim Chataway and Dr David Schultz from the MND SA Clinic), who have developed a world-first urine test or biomarker that can reliably be used to determine the disease progression.
The high-throughput screening facility will help in this ongoing quest to assess individual MND patients’ response to these new therapies, rapidly assessing MND biomarkers in patient samples from both Australian and international clinical trials.
This is part of important research into finding a treatment and possible cure for the deadly neurodegenerative disease.
Flinders University received one of seven 2019 FightMND grants, in a total of $7.6 million committed to expanding research around Australia.
The latest round of FightMND grants includes two drug development projects, along with phase 1, 2 and 3 clinical trials and a National Precision Medicine Program.
Motor neurone disease (MND) is the name given to a group of diseases that kill the nerve cells (neurones) controlling the muscles that enable us to move, speak, swallow and breathe. Without nerves to activate them, the muscles gradually weaken and waste.