Can we stop MS and ALS? | Michael C. Levin | TEDxUniversityofSaskatchewan

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Published 2024-03-05
Most persons living with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) continue to get worse. Researchers and healthcare providers don’t know why, or how to stop it. Although the two diseases are different, they share the common feature of nerve cell death in the brain and spinal cord. Our research team has discovered how nerve cells like these die, and designed new drugs to both stop cell death and encourage regeneration! By stopping nerve cell death and promoting their recovery, we believe we can stop MS and ALS in their tracks, improving the lives of persons living with these devastating diseases. Dr. Michael C. Levin (MD) is the Saskatchewan Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Clinical Research Chair and Professor of Neurology at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) College of Medicine. An MS specialist and neuroscientist, Levin has been caring for persons living with MS and conducting research into the cause and treatments for MS for most of his career.

At the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, he was professor, Chief of the Neurology Service at the Memphis Veterans Affairs Medical Center, leading the MS clinic and performed research on RNA binding proteins in MS. His work has been published in top journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Medicine, Annals of Neurology, Glia, and Journal of Neuroscience Research. Dr. Levin and his team have received more than 100 awards for academic excellence. He is editor of the Neurology Section of the Merck Manual, on the Medical Advisory Committee of MS Canada and honored as one of the ‘Best Doctors in America’. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx
All Comments (21)
  • @celestialcircledance
    Why not just give the miracle drug right now to sufferers with such advanced cases of ALS that they literally have nothing to lose ? The problem with all those TED Innovations is that they take so long to come to fruition that it may not be in our lifetime .
  • @__Wanderer
    Thank you Dr for everything you do. I have been diagnosed with MS since 2 years. My first relapse has left me permanently blind in my left eye, i am still in my 20s. This is such a scary disease that leaves me fearing another attack every day. I hope your trials are successful and that you can speed through them as quickly as (scientifically) possible. This would be a game changer for tens of millions of people. Thank you and I hope to be taking the medication soon :)
  • @plafayette
    This could be a huge breakthrough! Hope that the studies get the funding and prioritization they need.
  • @ekanscoughlin5932
    I have a niece diagnosed with ALS in october 2023, given 6 months, shes dying slowly 💔 how would she get on the trials
  • @gophersk
    As a person recently diagnosed with ALS I am intrigued.
  • @gregmac2392
    I cannot thank you enough for this work. Please bring this to market as soon as you can. A lot of people could use this treatment.
  • @ace5150_
    This is incredible! I can’t wait for it to help my MS and everyone with MS! Thank you for your research and your efforts!!
  • @NilamkumarKaloliya
    Yet my brain is able to send msg to my eyes to take water out in the form of tears unlike the msg to my leg, after watching this. Desperately waiting before it hits employment. Thank you for the hard work! ❤
  • @crawfordism
    yeah but what is the drug that you invented would be nice to hear
  • @O.LEO.N
    Absolutely incredible... could this be the ending of the immense suffering?
  • @PrincesaAzalea
    Big thanks for this Doctor. People like you are our hope!
  • @turk223
    I congratulate Dr. Levin and his team. I hope he can continue to make progress. I have PPMS and really have just accepted it now. I do what I can, have not "given up", but I am a realist...
  • @gloriareszler4196
    Wow! To see these images and to hear Dr. Levin's evidence, it is truly amazing. Huge tks to him and his colleagues. Now what will happen with this critical research?❤
  • @sivanmahadevan2458
    I have PPMS and its deteriorating daily. So when saw this videos my eyes open widely. Thanks dr we have hopes only because of ppl like you. Please share anything that comes up.
  • @DDS.D4V3
    Diagnosed January of 2016. I would gladly join the clinical trials. Each year I lose a part of me. Not long now before I am wheelchair bound. If there is a 50/50 hope to gain 50% normality, I will gladly take it.
  • @danielbeckham3285
    was diagnosed with ms in october 2023 and just turned 22 the same day i was diagnosed.