Lou Gehrig’s disease (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS) is a devastating condition where motor neuron degeneration causes progressive loss of movement and muscle tone, leading to death.

A recent report published in Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM) describes how neurons can be derived from human stem cells and engineered to mimic inherited ALS. This is of particular interest to scientist who currently only know of one approved drug that helps slow the progression of ALS.

The research is also beneficial for other gene-linked neurodegenerative diseases that may benefit from studies in a human cell-derived model.