European ALS Consortium (EALSC): Second annual Research Workshop, a summary report.

The article provides information on the European ALS Consortium's second annual research workshop, held in Nice, France, on May 14-16, 2005. The programme comprised 66 papers and posters. Twenty concerned the pathogenesis of human ALS and 16 dealt with the SOD1 transgenic mouse. Twenty papers were clinical and 10 dealt with animal models, cultured cells or slices, or drug discovery. Jaine Kirby and Christine Teitsma described the use of microarrays for mRNA in fibroblasts to study gene expression in SOD1 mice as an introduction to their use in humans. As described by Christopher Miller, protein transport is slowed in the motor nerves of SOD1 mutant mice and also in neurofilament mutants. Abnormalities of mitochondrial structure and function are found in animal models of ALS, including SOD1 mutants as well as VEGF deficiency and the wobbler mouse.