Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

Summary

My motivation to pursue ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) originated from my grandmother's drawn out battle with this disease, inspiring to develop a deeper understanding of its pathology and impact on patients. Although my grandfather had Parkinson's, I chose to focus on ALS because it's widely less known and a lot rarer.

I focused on multiple different aspects. First, the neuroanatomy, in which I connected what I learned from ELIO into creating my slides and figure. I also emphasized the cellular mechanisms, as well as treatment/therapies, a clinical overview explaining the symptoms of ALS and a small introduction at the beginning with a story about Lou Gehrig. I ended it with an impact/significance slide/section of my poster highlighting emotional burden and the reason why ALS is considered top three in the worst neurodegenerative disease. ALS patients preserve cognitive function while their body progressively loses the motor neurons and function. As muscle twitching and cramps increase in severity and pain, many patients experience a sense of helplessness as they become completely immobilized and unable to communicate either.

I divided my poster into four sections. I placed the introduction and clinical overview in one and dedicated two separate sections to the pathophysiology and neuroanatomy with the pictures I created in biorender. The last section was dedicated to treatment/therapies, the impact and significance, and the references.

Mislocalization of Protein TDP-43
(Figure representation created by the author: Arshiya Kumar)

Mitochondria Dysfunction
(Figure representation created by the author: Arshiya Kumar)

Neural Pathways of the Upper and Lower Motor Neurons
(Figure representation created by the author: Arshiya Kumar)

Impact Statement

Arshiya Kumar

"

ELIO Academy was my first introduction to neuroscience and it officially hooked me in. I learned a variety of different aspects, like how the brain works, how we use our different senses, perceive things with the brain, and more. Ultimately, I learned a lot more about neuroscience in general at ELIO academy that made me want to continue exploring. ELIO classes improved my communication skills with all the interactive sessions and occasional breakout rooms. Additionally, the project in general prepared me for future research as we already had to go into intensive research, even create our own images and be able to present the slides to show we understood the concepts.

Student Reflection

By: Arshiya Kumar.
The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of ELIO Academy.