Jackson lab moves one step closer to ALS treatment

JACKSON — Medical research is a Sisyphean endeavor: each study pushes the rock slightly farther uphill, until it finally reaches the top and a new discovery is made. Recently Brain Chemistry Labs, the nonprofit research lab in Jackson, moved the rock closer to the top of the hill.

In a study published in the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology, research done on vervets, monkeys native to Africa, shows a toxin in cyanobacteria is associated with the misfolding of proteins found in patients with neurodegeneration. Perhaps more important, the study showed L-serine, an amino...