Experiences of the 2019 International Symposium
Dec 2019: Several Euan MacDonald Centre researchers recently attended the 30th MND Association International Symposium in Perth, Australia, to find out about the very latest in MND research and care advances.
Every year, the MND Association hosts the International Symposium on ALS/MND. Now in it's 30th year, this year's symposium was in Perth, Australia.
Over 1000 delegates - scientists, healthcare professionals and people with MND - attend the International Symposium. It's the biggest annual gathering worldwide that is dedicated to discussing progress in understanding and treating MND, as well as improving quality of life for people living with the condition today.
It's really important for researchers to share and discuss their findings with other experts at conferences. These meetings often spark new ideas and research collaborations that helps the research worldwide progress faster and better.
Three Euan MacDonald Centre researchers, Dr Helena Chaytow, Dr Ratko Radakovic and Owen Kantelberg, gave talks at the Symposium, and Dr Liz Elliott presented a poster on her research.
Dr Liz Elliott (PhD student) commented:
The symposium was an excellent opportunity to see presentations from world leading MND researchers, particularly Professor Justin Yerbury who gave a fascinating and inspiring presentation on protein chemistry within cells. Several very interesting topics were presented by Australian and American teams on the genetics of ALS and what goes wrong in cells to cause neurodegeneration.
This experience was an excellent platform to develop my PhD project and to meet with so many people who are dedicated to MND research on a global scale.
Dr Ratko Radakovic (Associate Principal Investigator) said:
The symposium this year struck a powerful chord on the international effort towards practical research to help people living with ALS/MND and their families. In attending the sessions relating to care, it was striking at the number of different approaches being used, as well as new ones being developed, to improve practice and translate research findings in to real life impact.
It was a particular pleasure and honour to chair the Non-Motor Symptoms session at the Symposium, which showcased some excellent cognitive, behavioural and psychological research in ALS/MND.
Owen Kantelberg (PhD student) said:
I got some fabulous support and feedback on my talk and the chance to set up new collaborations for the future. I also had a very interesting and supportive discussion with Prof Chris Shaw, and got some great new ideas for project directions and collaborations from Prof Steve Finkbeiner. The meeting really opened my eyes to the commitment that goes into MND research worldwide.
Find out more
To read more about what was discussed and presented at this year's Symposium, please see the 'Periodic Table of MND Research' on the MND Association Symposium website.