Testing a new brain imaging technique to explore how the activity of brain networks change in MND.
Principal Investigator: Dr Marjorie Metzger
Lead Institution: Trinity College Dublin
MND Association Funding: £207,300*
Funding dates: June 2025 - May 2028
*Supported by the Lady Edith Wolfson Fellowship Programme
About the project
Different types of motor neuron diseases affect different networks within the brain. ALS typically affects both upper and lower motor neurons, whereas Primary Lateral Sclerosis (PLS) typically affects just the upper motor neurons. It is hard to distinguish between PLS and early stages of ALS as the symptoms are very similar, and this means that diagnosis is often delayed. This project is using a new brain imaging technique to explore how the activity of brain networks change in ALS and PLS. This new method records the brain’s electrical activity to measure brain activity while resting and could help to reveal more about changes that occur in the brain networks in disease. Dr Metzger will test this new technique in people with ALS, PLS and healthy controls to observe changes in brain network activity.
What could this mean for MND research?
This fellowship could help to increase understanding of different changes in the brain that happen in different types of MND, for example it could help to distinguish between PLS and ALS if the network changes are different between the diseases. This could help to improve diagnosis for people in the future and might be used to map disease progression through changes brain activity. It could also lead to the development of a new way to measure whether potential treatments are effective at an earlier stage of the condition.
Project code: 2436-799