Scientists have identified a basic biological mechanism that kills neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and in a related genetic disorder, frontotemporal dementia (FTD), found in some ALS patients. ALS is popularly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The researchers were led by J. Paul Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the St. Jude Cell and Molecular Biology Department and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; and Rosa Rademakers, Ph.D., of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida. The findings appear today in the journal Neuron.