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Neurological Clinical Research Institute team May is ALS Awareness Month, intended as a time to raise awareness of and foster research for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Eventually these motor neurons die, effecting aRead more

Florian Eichler, MD While it may not have been called rare disease research by name, Massachusetts General Hospital has been identifying and tracking rare diseases for more than a century, says Florian Eichler, MD, Director of the Center for Rare Neurological Diseases in the Department of Neurology. In recent years, advances made by the HumanRead more

Farrah Mateen, MD, PhD Multiple sclerosis (MS) is not your average neurological disorder. For one thing, it tends to strike patients at a much younger age than most cases of Alzheimer’s disease or Parkinson’s disease. In fact, it is the leading non-traumatic cause of disability in young adults in the United States. For another, eachRead more

It’s the night before a big meeting at work—or a race you’ve been training months for—and you want to do everything you can to get the next day off to a great start. How much sleep do you need to be at your best? Jacqueline Lane, PhD For years, the magic number for a goodRead more

The Society for Neuroscience recently named Mass General researcher Laura Lewis, PhD, a recipient of the Peter and Patricia Gruber International Research Award.

 Fifty years ago, a cystic fibrosis (CF) diagnosis was like receiving a death sentence. Most children with CF did not live past the age of 10. Thanks to heavy investment and advancements in medical research, children diagnosed with CF after the year 2000 are expected to live into their 50s. However, more research is neededRead more

A roundup of recent research-related awards and honors presented to investigators at Mass General.

Black History Month is an annual celebration in February of achievements by African Americans. This year, we’re commemorating the life and legacy of S. Allen Counter, a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, a neurophysiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and the founding director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations. Although CounterRead more

While the number of individuals with dementia worldwide is on the rise as populations age, data are encouraging that a fraction of dementias may be preventable and that lifestyle interventions may have the potential to modify the course of changes in memory and thinking with aging¹.

Studying over 3,000 members of the Framingham, MA, community since 1948, and across multiple generations, we found that people who are the most socially isolated have lower blood levels of a molecule known as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (or BDNF) which is critical for keeping brain cells healthy and forming new connections between cells.