Seminar Will Bring ALS Researchers to Pati...( The Leading ALS Lab Presents on Thera...)

The Leading ALS Lab Presents on Therapy Development Strategy

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Feb. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI) has announced the 2009 launch of its popular ALS Research 101 series. The two-hour, interactive seminar is designed to inform and update patients, their families and local communities on worldwide efforts to discover and develop effective treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease).

People diagnosed with this fatal disease typically succumb within three years of initial symptoms because there are no effective therapeutics to slow or stop the relentless progression. ALS TDI will offer the free seminars in a dozen cities and towns across the United States this year.

"Every day, ALS patients are bombarded with new reports and claims of breakthroughs. We aim to provide patients and their families with the tools to navigate through endless streams of information and to use that knowledge in a positive way. As researchers, we have a responsibility to help make today's scientific research approachable; conveying, for example, why therapeutic development has been challenging and what exciting prospects exist today," said John McCarty, Ph.D., an experienced biology researcher who serves as Director of Therapeutic Investigations at ALS TDI.

Dr. McCarty will be joined at each event by Mary Beth Geise, R.N., a nurse with more than 30 years experience working with ALS patients and their families. It is the team's objective to provide information on the latest research, address 'hot topics', and lead a discussion on quality of life issues. The speakers will also describe the impact a three-year, $18 million funding and scientific collaboration between ALS TDI and the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Augie's Quest initiative has had on the pace of research, as well as the recently announced 4ALS Awareness charitable
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