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THURSDAY, APRIL 17, 2014
Eddie Pokrishevsky, doctoral student at the University of British Columbia, is part of a research team that’s searching for ways to halt Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal muscle-wasting disease.
Researchers at UBC believe they are close to finding a way to stop the progress of ALS
TAMARA CUNNINGHAM THE NEWS BULLETIN
The for a BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM
A journey with ALS
THE NEWS BULLETIN
N
icky Vaillancourt prays a cure will be found for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. It has been two years since Nicky’s husband, Serge, was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease – a terminal muscle-wasting illness. She keeps hoping and praying the disease will stop its forward march. That Serge wouldn’t have to use a wheelchair or eat through a feeding tube. That it would go into remission, “not go any further than this,” she said. But there is no known cure for ALS yet. There’s not even an effective treatment. Scientists are well aware that what they’ve discovered isn’t good enough. The only drug for ALS was developed almost two decades ago,
Today the News Bulletin publishes the final two articles in a four-part series on Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, which focus on research for a possible cure. On Tuesday, readers met Serge and Nicky Vaillancourt and learned their story after Serge’s diagnosis with ALS.
according to David Taylor, director of research for ALS Canada. But the tide could be changing. Four recent advances in understanding the disease have experts believing they have a shot at slowing down the disease in the foreseeable future, Taylor said. Despite questions that still plague scientists, like what causes ALS, they now know how to conduct better clinical trials and are looking at tests to help diagnose people
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earlier. They’ve also learned that multiple cells are involved in the disease, giving them a larger target for treatment, and found the gene that causes the highest percentage of ALS. Research projects were revamped four years ago to study the gene with the first results coming out last year. In a University of British Columbia lab, a research team has also been searching for a cure. Dr. Neil Cashman, Canada research chair in neurodegeneration and protein misfolding diseases at UBC, and his team believe they have not only figured out how the disease spreads, but also found the antibody to stop it. Researchers will know in three years, after a biotechnology firm is finished testing the antibody, whether it can ultimately stop the disease from progressing.
See ‘RESEARCH’ /7
Incinerator project draws threat of lawsuit from city BY TAMARA CUNNINGHAM THE NEWS BULLETIN
The City of Nanaimo will consider legal action if Metro Vancouver moves ahead with a wasteto-energy incinerator at Duke Point, says Mayor John Ruttan. Nanaimo city politicians unanimously opposed a waste-to-energy incinerator at Duke Point Monday night, to thundering applause and standing ovations from more than 200 people crowded into the Shaw Auditorium at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre. Now, two days after the vote, the mayor is also pledging the city will back up its opposition with potential lobbying efforts to the provincial government and legal action if Metro Vancouver opts to build an incinerator in Nanaimo in spite of the public’s wishes. Nanaimo city politicians have been mulling support for a waste-to-energy project for close to a year, but opted last December to hold off on a decision until Metro Vancouver wraps up public consultation. But on Monday, Ruttan said the district’s public outreach offer, set for this May, comes “too little, too late,” and slammed Metro Vancouver’s date for announcing a final site in 2016, calling it “totally unacceptable” to Nanaimo. “In conclusion, I do not want Nanaimo to be known as the garbage dump for Metro Vancouver,” he said. Council’s decision on Monday has been met with disappointment from proponents, Wheelabrator Technologies, Urbaser and Seaspan, but the trio is not willing to concede the project yet. David Garcia de Herreros, representing Urbaser, said they will evaluate their options and weigh the pros and cons for the project in Nanaimo, but ultimately the decision on whether Duke Point remains a site in the procurement process is up to Metro Vancouver. Metro Vancouver says it did not choose Nanaimo as a location and will leave it up to proponents whether they stay in the competition with the site. See ‘INCINERATOR’ /9
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