Euan MacDonald Centre

rdf:langString Euan MacDonald Centre

rdf:langString The Euan MacDonald Centre is a research centre which is part of the University of Edinburgh. The centre was established in 2007 and seeks to improve the lives of patients with motor neurone disease (MND). The centre was part funded by a donation by Euan MacDonald, who was diagnosed with MND in 2003, and his father Donald MacDonald. In addition to conducting research, the centre also offers clinical treatments. Around 130 are diagnosed with MND each year in Scotland alone. In 2013, the centre announced a new partnership with the J9 Foundation which provides support for people with MND in South Africa. Discoveries by the centre include the finding that Zebrafish are able to produce motor neurones when they repair their spinal cords from injury and abnormalities in the protein TDP-43 result in the death of motor neurone cells. The Euan MacDonald Centre is currently leading a new UK-wide clinical trial, MND-SMART which aims to find treatments for MND. In 2021, The Euan MacDonald Centre announced a discovery that sheds light on how nerve cells damaged by MND can be repaired.