Every breakthrough in neuroscience starts with a question, but understanding what they really mean, and why they matter to patients and families, isn’t always straightforward. 

In this new FutureNeuro series, we delve into the emerging ideas, technologies and discoveries shaping the future of brain research. Each article explores a key scientific concept, explains the research behind it, and shows how discoveries made today could improve diagnosis, treatment and care in the years ahead. 

The series has been developed in collaboration with Laura Bilbao Broch, Science & Health Writer and Clinical Neuroscientist, whose expertise helps translate complex neuroscience into engaging stories for a broad audience. 

How do biomarkers help us understand ALS? 

Could a simple blood sample one day reveal how amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is progressing? One of the biggest challenges in ALS is that no two people experience the condition the same way. Researchers are searching for biological clues, known as biomarkers, that can help explain why. 

A biomarker is a measurable sign of what’s happening inside the body: a protein in the blood, a fragment of RNA, a pattern of electrical activity in a muscle, or something visible on a scan. Think of it as a biological fingerprint. Because ALS varies so much between patients, biomarkers offer a way to track the disease more precisely than symptoms alone allow. 

FutureNeuro’s approach is to combine several types of biomarker rather than search for one silver bullet. One example comes from Professor Jochen Prehn’s team, who have been studying small fragments of tRNA, a molecule normally used to build proteins, which breaks apart when a cell is under stress. One of these fragments, found in the blood of people living with ALS, has been linked to slower disease progression, suggesting it may help predict how a person’s illness will unfold. It’s one piece of a bigger picture the team is building: how these tRNA fragments behave differently across ALS, Parkinson’s and other brain diseases. 

Alongside this molecular work, FutureNeuro researchers use advanced tools like high-density surface EMG, which records electrical signals from muscles in fine detail, and EEG-EMG coherence, which measures how well the brain and muscles are “talking” to each other. These tools can pick up subtle changes in nerve and muscle activity before they’re outwardly visible to a patient or doctor. 

The real innovation isn’t any single measurement, it’s combining them. By feeding blood-based markers, neurophysiology readings, brain imaging and clinical data into AI and machine-learning tools, researchers can ask whether several biological signals together give a clearer picture than any one on its own. It’s the same big-picture thinking behind Precision ALS, applied specifically to biomarkers. 

Why does this matter for people living with ALS?

Reliable biomarkers could help doctors diagnose ALS earlier, track how it’s progressing, and see whether a treatment is working, something that’s currently hard to measure quickly. They could also help match patients to the clinical trials best suited to them, reducing uncertainty at every stage. 

Every new biomarker helps researchers move from simply observing ALS to understanding it in far greater detail.