eNews May 2024
Thank you for your support! Your involvement with peripheral neuropathy awareness week helps grow awareness of this condition. Increased awareness leads to increased research funds, which in turn leads to treatments, and one day, cures.

Make your voice heard: Join the call to action for PN advocacy
Please join FPN in celebrating the renewal of PN as an eligible condition for research funding from the Department of Defense.
And now we need your help to ensure PN gets renewed for more funding in 2025. Your outreach makes a difference! Please feel free to use our template and the provided contact information to make your outreach simple but effective.

Honoring research awardee in PN
During this year’s American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in Denver from April 13-18, FPN’s Executive Director, Lindsay Colbert, celebrated the funding of a new research study on chemo-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN).
This year’s awardee of the FPN-funded Clinical Research Training Scholarship (CRTS) in Peripheral Neuropathy is Francesco Michelassi, MD, PhD, from Columbia University. His research will target a drug used in chemotherapy and aims to learn more about the prevention and treatment of CIPN.
We invite you to honor our current and next generation of research awards by making a donation today. Your donation to FPN supports research grants like this, and overall expansion of the PN research pipeline!

Brain-based balance exercises
You might ask, how do we create exercises that impact the brain? These exercises use our senses: touch, smell, sight, sound, taste and the inner ear in specific patterns to get the desired outcome. This approach of combining exercises builds better neural pathways to influence balance.
Learn more about these exercises from expert, LeeAnn Manoni, DC.
And if you are more of a visual learner, please watch the recording of Dr. Manoni’s webinar on alternative therapies that enhance balance.

Research study publication: machine learning algorithms
Julien Biland, from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences, recently published a thesis on his study utilizing data from FPN’s biobank, the Peripheral Neuropathy Research Registry.
His study looked at how machine learning algorithms could identify clusters of different causes of PN and how these causes are correlated with disease manifestation. Ultimately, with these findings made possible from FPN’s biobank, this study will aid in predicting and identifying better diagnostic causes of diabetic and idiopathic PN.

Exercise for PN patients
“I used to think that exercise was an activity relegated only for weight loss or social engagement. Yet, it had never occurred to me that exercise could be a treatment for a serious medical condition like chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN),” says Sumedha Shastry, FPN activist and volunteer.
If you had a similar thought, read her blog post on FPN’s website. In this article, Sumedha tries to bring awareness to the beneficial implications of exercise for CIPN based on her personal research on this topic.

FPN spotlight in US Pain Foundation
The US Pain Foundation’s INvisible Project, a print and online magazine that highlights the lived experiences of pain warriors through stories and photos, recently highlighted FPN in a spotlight piece. Check it out and help us spread awareness about our organization by sharing this feature with your community.
Read the full PDF of the magazine, which focuses on diabetes.