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ALS Research & Publications

The UC San Diego Center for ALS Research and Therapy is a multi-institutional collaboration of scientists and clinicians focused on identifying the causes of ALS, the mechanisms that lead to premature death of motor neurons during disease progress, devising and testing potential therapeutic approaches, and conducting innovative clinical trials.

Research Interests

Using molecular genetics, the principles that support axonal growth are being identified as are ways in which errors in the scaffolding structure within axons lead to disease. Similar approaches are being used to determine mechanisms underlying the inherited forms of the most prominent adult motor neuron disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, the hallmark of which is the selective death of motor neurons. 

Research Collaborators

  • Laboratory for ALS Research, led by Don Cleveland
  • UC San Diego Institute for Genomics, led by Al LaSpada
  • California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, led by Larry Goldstein, M.D., Ph.D.
  • Mike Smith, M.D., Center for Neurologic Study and the Scripps Research Institute