Patent Document ID: 8470594
Application ID: 12386337
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. An in vitro method of identifying an agent that affects the survival of a motor neuron expressing mutant super oxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) comprising: a) co-culturing a motor neuron expressing a mutant SOD1 protein and a glial cell expressing a mutant SOD1 protein; b) contacting a control cell culture and the co-culture of step (a) with a test agent, wherein the control cell culture is a co-culture comprising a motor neuron and a glial cell each expressing a wild-type SOD1 protein; and c) determining the effect of the test agent on survival of the motor neuron expressing mutant SOD1 by comparing the survival of the motor neuron expressing mutant SOD1 to the survival of the motor neuron expressing wild-type SOD1, wherein an increased survival of the motor neuron expressing mutant SOD1 as compared to the survival of the motor neuron expressing wild-type SOD1 indicates that the test agent increases survival of the motor neuron expressing mutant SOD1.