Motor neurone disease rates are rising. This new clinic hopes to stop it at the start

On Monday, Macquarie University will launch its Brain Institute and Clinic to bring together researchers and clinicians who specialise in motor neurone disease (MND) to understand its origins and how to treat it. MND impacts parts of a person's brain and neurons that control their muscles, leading to progressive weakness and eventual paralysis. It can affect adults of any age and most cases are not genetic. Macquarie University deputy vice-chancellor Patrick McNeil noted there was still no effective cure for the deadly disease, despite it becoming increasingly common. The purpose of the institute was to find treatments and deliver them to patients more quickly, he said. "It typically takes an average of 17 years between when an important research discovery is made ... and when that is implemented in the clinic," McNeill told the Australian Associated Press. "When you have integrated research and clinical institutions, that journey is shortened."