News
Conference Announcement
The speakers and dates for the 5th Ottawa International Conference on Neuromuscular Disease & Biology have been announced. The Conference will feature top international basic and clinical NMD researchers highlighting advances in NMD research and clinical care, including novel diagnostic techniques, disease pathogenesis, basic muscle and stem cell biology, and promising therapies to treat these devastating…
New publication: 237th ENMC international workshop: GNE myopathy – current and future research
In the 237th workshop convened by the European Neuromuscular Center (ENMC), clinical experts, researchers and patient representatives came together from around the world to discuss the latest findings and the way forward in research and care in GNE myopathy. The workshop was held in September 2018 and led by Drs Pogoryelova, Argov, Urtizberea, Nishino and Lochmüller.…
New publication: Correction of pseudoexon splicing caused by a novel intronic dysferlin mutation
We were really pleased to collaborate with the Dominov and Brown labs at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. This research discovered a novel pathogenic point mutation in a dysferlin intron, thus determining the genetic cause in a group of patients with limb girdle muscular dystrophy. In addition, through performing targeted exon skipping we were able…
New publication: disease burden of myotonic dystrophy type 1
Nikoletta Nikolenko and Erik Landfeldt have published a new study on the impact of myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) in the Journal of Neurology. They use a questionnaire-based method, the Individualized Neuromuscular Quality of Life Questionnaire (INQoL), to assess the burden of this condition on affected adults. The study provides further evidence of the wide range…
New publication: Congenital myasthenic syndrome caused by novel COL13A1 mutations
We recently contributed to this important research detailing the discovery of novel COL13A1 mutations (p.Tyr216*, p.Glu543fs and p.Thr629fs) in patients from Spain, Portugal and Germany with congenital myasthenic syndrome (CMS). This work, led by Marina Dusl and Jan Senderek in Munich, Germany, describes six patients from three unrelated families with symptoms similar to previously described CMS patients…
New publication: health-related quality of life in myotonic dystrophy type 1 – a systematic review
Our new systematic review by Landfeldt et al on health-related quality of life in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) is now available online. DM1 is the most common muscular dystrophy in adults. It is a multisystem disorder that may have a wide range of complications that affect quality of life. In this systematic review we…
New publication on shared decision-making puts the patient perspective front and centre
How do we ensure patients are involved in neuromuscular research right from its earliest stages? Shared decision-making (SDM), in which doctors and patients jointly decide on treatment or care, has emerged as a gold standard model of healthcare. Within neuromuscular research, obtaining the patient perspective on matters such as research objectives, study design, or even…
New publication: GNE genotype explains 20% of phenotypic variability in GNE myopathy
A lack of genotype-phenotype correlations in many neuromuscular disorders can make it difficult for doctors to manage diseases and give advice on prognosis and disease trajectory to patients. In addition, it may hinder clinical research. Our most recent paper by Pogoryelova et al, a systematic review and meta-analysis, examines this problem and demonstrates that key…
New publication: Targeted therapies for congenital myasthenic syndromes: systematic review and steps towards a treatabolome
Our new publication by Thompson et al on the treatments available for the congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMS) and the development of a “treatabolome” to improve the accessibility of information on treatable rare diseases is now available online. In this publication we look into ways we can improve access to the important information that a particular disease…
New Publication: A phase 3 randomized study evaluating sialic acid extended-release for GNE myopathy
Our most recent paper reporting on a phase 3 international multi-center study (13 sites across 7 countries) to evaluate extended-release sialic acid as a therapy option for GNE myopathy is now available to read online. Dr Lochmüller led an international group of investigators in a phase 3 clinical trial sponsored by Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc with full…
The Lochmüller Lab wins CIHR project award!
We are delighted to announce that our project on congenital myasthenic syndromes (CMS) has been funded in the Canadian Institute for Health Research’s Fall 2018 project grant competition. Through this funding we will be working on improving the diagnosis and treatment of congenital myasthenic syndromes through gene identification, understanding molecular pathogenesis, and preclinical therapies. This is…
New Publication: SMArtCARE – A platform to collect real-life outcome data of patients with spinal muscular atrophy
Our new collaborative publication on the development of a platform to collect real-life longitudinal data on patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is now available at the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases website (open access). This important European study led by Prof. Janbernd Kirschner demonstrates how long-term, real-life outcomes of patients under novel therapy should be captured,…
RD-Connect webinars on data submission and analysis
The Lochmüller Lab submits genomic data to the RD-Connect Genome-Phenome Analysis Platform (GPAP) for diagnosis and gene discovery. This leading data sharing and analysis resource is also used by the European Solve-RD project for submission of data from the European Reference Networks for rare diseases. Solve-RD uses the RD-Connect Genome-Phenome Analysis Platform (GPAP) to allow submitters…
New Publication: Neuromuscular Junction Changes in a Mouse Model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Type 4C
Our recent publication on Neuromuscular Junction Changes in Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease Type 4C (CMT4C) is now available online at the International Journal of Molecular Sciences (Open Access). In this paper we used a variety of techniques including immunofluorescence and proteomics to investigate muscle from a mouse model of CMT4C with the aim of identifying mechanisms that…
New publication: A nomenclature and classification for the congenital myasthenic syndromes: preparing for FAIR data in the genomic era
Our new publication on developing a nomenclature for the congenital myasthenic syndromes is now available online at the Orphanet Journal of Rare Diseases website. In this paper we worked with CMS experts to classify the individual CMS types as a foundation for their use in computer-based diagnostic and decision-support systems in which it is important…
New publication on the latest expansion of the human phenotype ontology
We are delighted to have played a role in this new paper on the continued development and expansion of the human phenotype ontology. This comprehensive and interoperable vocabulary of phenotypic terms has become the global standard for annotating phenotypic features in rare disease. The new publication describes the ways the ontology has developed in response…