Grant: Fellowship - Priority Announcement: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is an adult-onset neurodegenerative disease caused by the progressive loss of motor neurons from the brain and spinal cord. The disease starts as a mild muscle weakness that progresses to complete paralysis and death, usually within 2-5 years from diagnosis. There is no cure nor effective treatment. Mutations in a gene called superoxide dismutase (SOD1) cause some forms of the disease, and transgenic mice expressing this gene develop a disease very similar to ALS. The aim of this project is to identify the changes in gene expression that occur in the motor neurons of mice expressing mutant SOD1 as means to understanding how the disease occurs and what can be done to prevent it.