Once this was done, the axon reverted to normal length. The effect was achieved in the laboratory using motor neurons grown from stem cells collected from people with a genetic mutation known to cause both MND and a form of dementia. These laboratory-grown motor neurons were then exposed to a virus which supercharged a key molecule vital to the healthy functioning of mitochondria. "When we did that, we found that all of the issues significantly reversed back to normal," said Dr Arpan Mehta, who led the research for his PhD. Dr Mehta said it could take as little as two years to test whether a drug can produce the same effect in MND patients