On 21st June 2023, IMNDA and The Academic Unit of Neurology, Trinity College Dublin held a reception in Trinity Biomedical Science Institute (TBSI) to mark MND Global Awareness Day and to hear of developments within IMNDA and MND Research. The event was a great success and lots of people turned up to the event to hear about the developments and ask questions of the experts.
We started off with a welcome and introduction from Tracy Hutchin, Community Engagement Manager and organiser of the event. This was followed by Maeve Leahy, Head of Advocacy and Communications; she spoke about Voice4MND campaign which was held in June this year. We then had Naomi Fitzgibbon, Director of Nursing who gave an update on nursing & services within IMNDA and introduced the new MND nurses to everyone.
Up next was speakers from The Academic Unit of Neurology and we had Dr Conor Hayden who delivered a presentation about Clinometric/Objective Measurement Device Development for MND in two areas; hand dexterity and respiratory function.
We then had Lesley Doyle Speech and Language Therapist (SLT) talk about the MIRANDA PhD Programme which involves gathering information and sharing it to inform digital solutions.
Up next was Dr Roisin McMackin who delivered a presentation on Brain Signal Analysis (EEG/TMS) which looked at research into brain function in MND, including movement as well as cognitive functions in the brain.
We then had Dr Emmet Costello talk about how MND affects memory, language and planning. Then we had Dr Julie Kelly talk about Drug Development in ALS/MND and the challenges that researchers face as they don’t know the root cause of the disease.
Up next we had Avril McTague who has a background in physiotherapy and is also one of the MIRANDA PhD students. She spoke about Public & Patient Involvement opportunities in ALS Research (PPI).
Finally, we had Prof. Orla Hardiman give an overview of the Research Programme including Precision ALS initiative.
In case you missed and would like to listen back on the event, it was streamed live and is still available on our YouTube Channel: MNDireland – just go to the live section and you will see it there.
