Motor neurone disease researcher Professor Justin Yerbury uses a ventilator to breathe and his scientific papers - at least 35 in the past three years - are written using an eye-tracking system.
Yerbury’s work focuses on crucial brain proteins that, in people with MND, seem to go haywire.
Under the microscope, MND bears a lot of similarities with Alzheimer’s: scientists can see proteins clumping up to form unusual balls in neural tissue, but it’s not clear if this is a cause of the disease or a symptom. Yerbury’s research hints at the former. His team has shown the protein machinery surrounding motor neurons is exquisitely fragile. If the machinery makes a small mistake or comes under a lot of stress – from environmental toxins or exposure to viruses – it can collapse, taking the neurons with it.“This is important work,” said Professor Matthew Kiernan, co-director of the Brain and Mind Centre. “We have one medication for patients at the moment. And it just seems to slow the disease down.
Local markets were full of people recycling waste into usable goods. As Sahajwalla said: “What if you could inherently see waste as part of the supply chain?” Liam Mannix’s Examine newsletter explains and analyses science with a rigorous focus on the evidence.
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