ABOUT THE EUAN MACDONALD CENTRE FOR MOTOR NEURONE DISEASE RESEARCH

The Euan MacDonald Centre

Established in Edinburgh by the generosity of MND patient Euan MacDonald and his father, Donald, The Euan MacDonald Centre builds on a fortuitous concentration of a dozen Principal Investigators with strong research interests in motor neurone biology or motor neurone disease.

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The Euan MacDonald Centre website

The Centre will carry out translational research directed towards:

Improve basic knowledge and understanding of motor neurone development, differentiation, function, plasticity and degeneration;

Develop and impliment neuroprotective and regenerative treatments for MND, including the utilization of stem-cells;

Utilise or create new informatic, computational and hardware technologies that will facilitate and improve the day-to-day quality of life of patients suffering from MND.

It is reasonable to expect that within the next 5-10 years the following advances will have been made:

• better knowledge and understanding of the genetic or environmental causes of MND; the key sites in the motor neurone where protective drugs are likely to be most effective; and the molecular mechanisms of motor neurone death
  
• the role of different cell types in degeneration and repair of motor neurones
  
• effective engineering of the differentiation of stem cells into motor neurones
  
• accurate and accelerated regeneration of nerve axons with reformation of functional neuromuscular connections, from stem-cell-derived motor neurones;
  
• availability of better, specific drugs that slow the progression of MND and its spread throughout a patient’s body
  
• advances in physiotherapy, psychotherapy, and applications of new technology including robotics, artificial intelligence and neural networks that will improve the day-to-day quality of MND patients.

The Centre will dovetail with a timely, parallel proposal for a Managed Clinical Network for MND patients in Scotland.

Why Edinburgh?

Unique in Scotland: Edinburgh University is the only Scottish University where there already exists a major group of over 12 researchers working on aspects of motor neurone cell biology or Motor Neurone Disease.

Diverse and wide-ranging Research Interests: The research interests of the Edinburgh neuroscientists range from cognitive function in MND, through cellular mechanisms of motor neurone function and plasticity in animal models, to molecular biology and molecular genetics of normal and diseased motor neurones in vivo and in vitro, in man and animal models.

Significant investment in research and infrastructure: Edinburgh University is also at the forefront of research in related areas of biomedical science, with the recent establishment of the following:

- The Centre for Regenerative Medicine (CRM) which will focus on the use of stem cells for treatment of a variety of degenerative diseases including Parkinsons and MND;

- The MS Centre whose research focus will be translational research into the causes and the development of treatments for Multiple Sclerosis;

- The Centre for Neuroscience Research from whose membership The Euan MacDonald Centre group is drawn.

Interdisciplinary Approach to Research: Other relevant research groups operate within the Centre for Integrative Physiology, the Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences and the Centre for Cognitive and Neural Systems. All these Centres are embraced by Edinburgh Neuroscience, an “institute-without-walls” that actively fosters the various activities of all the neuroscience research groups. Training of postgraduate and postdoctoral neuroscientists is orchestrated within Edinburgh Neuroscience, with the Centre for Neuroscience Research playing the most active role in providing the kind of postgraduate training that is most relevant to Motor Neurone Disease. In addition the University has made major investments in relevant areas of palliative research, computer science and informatics, and new technologies including harnessing advances in speech technology to patient needs

Relationship to other research groups
Neurodegenerative diseases are likely to share common underlying mechanisms and therefore the development of effective treatments may also have similar goals at a cellular and molecular level.

The University has committed a significant proportion of its intellectual and financial resources to development of stem cell treatments for Neurodegenerative Diseases. Outwith the University, The Euan MacDonald Centre will establish collaborative links with neurologists in Scotland via the Managed Clinical Network proposed by SMNDA; other centres of excellence in research in the UK, mainland Europe and the USA.

For additional Information please contact Chloe Kippen (Deputy Director),

Development and Alumni. Tel: 0131 650 2232; Fax: 0131 650 2239; Email: chloe.kippen@ed.ac.uk.