We would like to say a “Big Thank You” to a group of ex Aer Lingus staff members, who kindly participated as healthy controls in the Magnetic Resonance Brain Imaging (MRI) research project of the Irish Motor Neuron Disease Research Foundation – Research Motor Neuron.

Objectives of this project include the development of new diagnostic protocols and description of the radiological features of Motor Neuron Disease subtypes. This research study is fully approved by both the Beaumont Hospital Medical Ethics Committee and St. James`s Hospital Ethics Committee.

The detailed interpretation of our patients MRI brain scans would have been impossible without scanning a large number of healthy age-matched controls.

Many ex Aer Lingus staff and their friends including Mr. Chris Quinn, Mr. Christopher McNally, Mr. Barry Crowley, Ms. Pauline Daly, Mr. Vincent Coyle and Mr. Joseph Bishop, kindly participated and helped our project significantly. They bravely put up with the thumping noise of the scanner and the discomfort of lying still for about 40 minutes. We can officially establish that all of these men and women have a great sense of humour, healthy brains and no claustrophobia!

Their participation made it is easier for us to make statistically significant comparisons between patients and healthy individuals and highlight areas of the brain which are affected in Motor Neuron Disease.

Preliminary findings of this research study will be presented at the upcoming European ALS Congress in London and at the 21st International Symposium on ALS/MND in the USA in December.

Many thanks again,

Peter

Dr. Peter Bede MD. MRCP- Research Fellow in Neurology, Trinity College, Beaumont Hospital