NAMS in muscle pathology
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Native Ambient Mass Spectrometry in Muscle Pathology.
IRAS ID
344685
Contact name
Robin Highley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
We wish to explore the utility of a new method for stuyding protein chemistry to assess muscle tissue. This method is called native ambient mass spectrometry (NAMS). We are interested from two perspectives: 1) the ability to use NAMS to diagnose muscle disease. 2) The ability to use NAMS to develop a better understanding of muscle disease so that we can develop better treatments.
Muscle biopsy is where a doctor will remove a small sample of muscle tissue from a living patient in order for a pathologist to analyse it to assist with diagnosis. This is a key tool for the investigation of muscule disease. Unfortunately, in many instances, a definitive diagnosis cannot be found, and a set of possible ("differential") diagnoses have to be offered.
For some neuromuscular diseases, there is no treatment and the cause us unclear. It is thus necessary to understand the disease better in order to find some candidate treatments.
This is a pilot study to trial NAMS in muscle biopsy tissue to determine if this new technique has potential to move forward to larger studies.
REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/WM/0229
Date of REC Opinion
22 Oct 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion