All the sessions on YouTube
The SP Foundation Annual Conference, held in Nashville in the US in July, featured a stellar lineup of presenters with all the sessions available on the SPF YouTube channel.
Here are some of the sessions:
Research and developing treatments
Darius Ebrahimi-Fakhari discusses childhood onset SPs, the challenges of studying rare diseases, clinical research and clinical trials, translational research and future directions with drug repurposing and gene therapy.
Hande Ozdinler talks about the challenges of developing treatments for upper motor neuron diseases; the processes of disease development; progress with drug candidate NU-9 (AKV9); biomarkers; gene therapies and clinical trials.
Peter Baas covers HSP basics – genes and symptoms, then focuses on his lab’s research on SPG4, including the HSP mice they have bred for drug and gene therapy testing.
Managing HSP
John Fink talked about living with HSP and PLS, what the common symptoms are and how to manage them; different types of therapies; the value and benefits of exercise; and dance therapy – different ways to do it such as seated, standing, or in water! and how it can help.
Chelsea Burton from the University of Michigan addresses spasticity management; how it is a mixture of both bad and good; how physiotherapy can help; stretching and strength; and medications – oral, injections and intrathecal.
Panel discussion – Q&A
A panel discussion with audience Q&A session was held with Drs Fink, Ozdinler, Baas and Ebrahimi-Fakhari covering a wide range of topics raised by the audience.