The 4th International Scientific Congress on Spinal Muscular Atrophy awards the best poster prize to a research carried out by researchers from Lleida on the pathogenic cellular mechanisms of the disease

The 4th Scientific International Congress on Spinal Muscular Atrophy has awarded as the best poster of the congress the communication "Nusinersen treatment for spinal muscular atrophy: effects on excitatory synaptic integrity and microgliosis", presented by the researcher in training of the Experimental Neuromuscular Pathology group of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Lleida (IRBLleida) and the University of Lleida (UdL), Alaó Gatius. The poster was chosen from among the 179 proposals submitted.

The poster describes a series of cellular and molecular alterations suffered by motor neurons in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), and the ability of nusinersen, one of the few drugs currently available to modify the time course of this disease. "These findings are helping us to better understand the complexity of SMA and the benefits and shortcomings of current treatments, laying new foundations for future complementary therapies," explained the researcher.

This research is carried out by the Experimental Neuromuscular Pathology group at IRBLleida and the UdL, led by Jordi Calderó and Olga Tarabal, in collaboration with the Neuronal Signalling Unit at IRBLleida and the UdL, led by Rosa Soler and Ana Garcerá.

The congress, which took place from 14 to 16 March in Ghent, Belgium, and brought together more than 1000 researchers, was held in the city of Ghent, Belgium, in collaboration with the IRBLleida and UdL Neural Signalling Unit.

The researcher, Alaó Gatius, at the poster presentation.