People in Ireland will have a chance to make a unique and direct contribution to a new DNA Project to discover the causes of Motor Neurone Disease by sponsoring the mapping of DNA samples.

More than 200-thousand people worldwide are living with MND, a progressively degenerative neurological disease which affects about 300 people at any given time in Ireland, with some 110 new cases reported each year.

The cause for 85-90 per-cent of MND sufferers remains unknown, but is thought to be due to a combination of genetic and environmental factors.

Project MinE is being launched today giving people the unique opportunity to donate an amount of their choosing or sponsor a single chromosome or even a full DNA profile.

Professor of Neurology in Trinity and Consultant Neurologist at Beaumont Hospital is Orla Hardiman: