Meet some of the people featured in the October 2021 issue of The Scientist.

The single-celled fungus allows researchers to study Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS and other brain diseases with unparalleled speed and scale.

After six months, patients with fast-progressing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who had received the experimental treatment had less loss of function than those who received a placebo.

Researchers slowed disease progression in the mice by injecting two different viral vectors, each containing one part of the DNA encoding the Cas9 protein, to edit the causative gene.

Flexible proteins appear to protect molecules from becoming denatured in extreme conditions such as heat and from clumping up, as happens in some neurodegenerative diseases.

The scientific community said goodbye to Sydney Brenner, Paul Greengard, Patricia Bath, and a number of other leading researchers this year.

Boosting the levels of Akkermansia muciniphila in mouse guts slowed the progression of an ALS-like disease, while two other microbiome members were associated with more severe symptoms.

He developed an MRI-based map of the human cortex, discovered genetic risk factors for neurodegenerative diseases, and wrote about his struggles with ALS.

Human endogenous retroviruses that colonized vertebrate DNA millions of years ago have long been dismissed as junk DNA, but researchers now know that they may play important roles in cancer, neurodegeneration, and other ailments.

Clinical trials that target human endogenous retroviruses to treat multiple sclerosis, ALS, and other ailments are underway, but many questions remain about how these sequences may disrupt our biology.

The scientific community said goodbye to a number of leading researchers this year.

In human cells, researchers deploy the genome editor to snip out toxic repetitive sequences.

Researchers identify a new ALS-associated gene thanks to funds generated by the social media challenge that went viral in summer 2014.

At first blush, do-it-yourself clinical trials seem pointless and reckless. But a deeper truth pervades the research and the patients who drive it forward.

Data on the links between ALS and the chemical have been contradictory, but the latest study suggests undertakers are at risk.

Harvard Professor Marc Weisskopf discusses the potential link between formaldehyde and ALS.

Biotech company Genervon has requested accelerated approval for its experimental ALS drug after a small but promising Phase 2 trial. Patients advocate for its acceptance, while researchers urge caution.

Statisticians who normally crunch numbers to forecast trends in the food-service industry turn their attention to bettering treatment of ALS.