On target for Motor Neurone Disease

Independent asset management and investment group CVC Cordatus and a group of volunteers have stepped up their efforts to reach a £100,000 fundraising target to start a groundbreaking research project into Motor Neurone Disease in partnership with Barts and The London Charity. We are now within touching distance, but need your help to get us there.

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) affects over 5,000 people each year, and in 2009 CVC Cordatus’ Operations Director, Wayne Sammut became one of them. Over the last year, Wayne’s colleagues and friends have been undertaking a host of activities to raise money for research into this currently incurable disease.

MND is a degenerative illness that leads to the deterioration of the upper and lower motor neurons, the cells that control muscle activity. This in turn leads to weakness and wasting of muscles causing increasing loss of mobility in the limbs and difficulties with speech, swallowing and breathing. From the onset of symptoms, life expectancy typically ranges from six months to five years and can affect any adult at any age.

Barts and The London’s dedicated MND Centre oversees the treatment of between 100 -140 patients from North East London and Essex. The team is internationally recognised for its research and will use the funding to indentify possible areas around which to design new therapies for MND.

Based in the award winning Blizzard Institute at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, the detailed project will explore the role of muscle stems cells on disease progression. Traditionally research has focussed on the motor neurones themselves, but recent developments have identified the muscle stem cells as a promising lead. The stems cells are responsible for the regeneration of the muscle, and as such, if these can be ‘reactivated’ in MND patients, the symptoms of muscles weakness and wastage could be addressed.

This project however cannot start without funding, so this is a fantastic opportunity to make a big difference simply by helping to raise the final few thousand pounds to reach our target.

If you would like to make a donation to the project as part of CVC Cordatus’s Christmas appeal, please visit: http://www.justgiving.com/MNDResearchAppeal2011  
Or contact Francesca de-Vlugt at Francesca.de-vlugt@bartshealth.nhs.uk