The MDUK Oxford Neuromuscular Centre's first annual scientific meeting was opened by Professor Matthew Wood (Centre Director) and Dr Kate Adcock (Director of Research and Innovation at MDUK) who reflected on the exciting developments in the field and the importance of the research carried out at the Centre.
The meeting offered a series of excellent scientific talks from early career researchers and principal investigators, highlighting the breadth of neuromuscular conditions that are studied by teams within the Centre. These included Dr Richard Webster who spoke about his research to understand the mechanisms in the body that enable signals to travel from nerves to the muscles. Through his work he hopes to determine what causes these mechanisms to change in patients with congenital myasthenic syndromes (a group of inherited conditions which prevent the signal coming from nerves reaching the muscle). In addition, Dr Victoria Nesbit discussed her research into the natural history of mitochondrial disorders and how she uses her findings to develop the best clinical practice for these disorders.
Attendees also had the pleasure to hear a key note lecture from Dr Carsten Bönnemann (National Institute of Health, USA) and participate in a fruitful panel discussion chaired by Professor Laurent Servais and with expert input from panel members including Professors Carsten Bönnemann, Nathalie Goemans (University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium) and Kevin Talbot (Centre Co-Director). The discussion focused on new developments in advanced therapies such as gene therapies for neuromuscular diseases and lessons learned from its panel members to help guide the development of the Centre in these exciting times.
Copy courtesy of Muscular Dystrophy UK.