Research

In our laboratory facility, the ALS Hope Drug Discovery Center, we run the world's largest drug-screening program in a mouse model of ALS. Find out about ALS TDI's ongoing pipeline of treatment testing in the mouse model, our completed animal studies, and techniques we employ in our program.

Animal Studies

Recently Completed Current Studies

Recently Completed Study Name Date Current Studies Study Name Start Date Apocynin Early Start 150 mg/kg Survival Efficacy Study 2/29/2008 Lithium Survival Efficacy Study (6.94 mg/kg/day lithium ions) 2/14/2008 Apocynin Day 50 Start 150 mg/kg Survival Efficacy Study 2/7/2008

See all of ALS TDI's Animal Studies

See more about ALS TDI's Research Pipeline

Techniques

Clinical Chemistry
ALS Therapy Development Institute uses clinical chemistry analysis of mouse blood to track the general health of mice in drug screening studies. Using the IDEXX VetTest 8008 clinical chemistry analyzer, the lab can track levels of proteins and electrolytes in blood plasma. Using this type of data, researchers can reach conclusions regarding general health of liver, pancreas, and spleen while also helping to identify toxicities from drugs we are screening.

Hematology
Because some of the drugs which ALS TDI screens may cause changes in both white and red blood cell counts, the lab has established a hematology core. This type of data collection and analysis allow the lab to recognize whether a drug is causing anemia in mice in drug studies. Knowing the pattern and time frame for development of anemia in the mice allows for dosing optimization which could allow researchers to identify drug efficacy that would otherwise be masked by symptoms of anemia, such as lethargy and weight loss.

Formulations
ALS TDI research efforts rely heavily on being able to dose mice with compounds in order to find a drug active against ALS progression. To effectively accomplish this goal, ALS TDI has established complete capabilities to formulate drugs for mouse dosing in-house. Because of each individual drug's specific chemical and physical properties, each drug must be dosed in different routes (subcutaneous, oral, intraperitoneal, continuous infusion, etc.) and in different solutions. ALS TDI's formulations expertise allows for a custom delivery paradigm to be designed for each drug study based on each compound's stability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics.

ELISA and Western Blot
ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) and Western Blot techniques allow for measurement of specific proteins in tissues. With ELISA producing a quantitative result and Western Blot producing a qualitative / comparitive imaging result, both allow the lab to measure differences in protein levels between normal (wild-type) mice and G93A mutant SOD mice. These techniques also allow us to determine whether or not we have affected levels of specifically targeted proteins using drugs.