Your research donations make a difference! ALS Association-funded Dr. Mervyn Monteiro, Professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, developed novel ALS mouse models expressing mutant ubiquilin 2 (UBQLN2), a cause of inherited ALS-FTD that was published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Importantly, these mouse models demonstrate many characteristics of ALS observed in humans, thereby providing valuable tools for identifying disease pathways in ALS and for investigating therapeutic strategies to treat ALS.
Dr. Aaron Gitler and his colleagues recently published a paper in the August 12th issue of Science uncovering a potential new therapeutic target aimed at C9orf72 ALS, supported by The ALS Association. He found that inhibiting just one protein, called Spt4, significantly reduced toxicity caused by the C9orf72 repeat expansion. Learn more about how he used a simple model, yeast, to make this discovery and its therapeutic potential to treat ALS.
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The ALS Association Research Department is pleased to show their research dollars in action. Two new papers that were recently published in high impact scientific journals Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and Cell were supported by The ALS Association. The first paper by Drs. Zuoshang Xu and John Landers from University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass., demonstrates a novel profilin 1 (PFN1) mouse model that displays disease characteristics similar to human disease.
Our friend Ted Harada passed away this week. Many of you may have known him. Ted was first diagnosed with ALS in August 2010 and immediately became a tireless advocate, volunteer, and voice of the ALS community.
Through donations from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, The ALS Association is supporting strategic initiatives that emphasize collaboration, data sharing and state-of-the-art scientific methods. Here we feature the Center for Genomics of Neurodegenerative Disease (CGND) at the New York Genome Center (NYGC). Meet Dr. Hemali Phatnani and learn about how the CGND at the NYGC is making a huge impact on ALS research.
In August 2015, The Association committed $3.5 million from money raised through the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to the Genomic Translation for ALS Care (GTAC), a collaborative nationwide precision medicine initiative through Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) and Biogen, which is being led by Dr. Matthew Harms. GTAC is actively enrolling now (scroll to the bottom for more details) with the ultimate goal of ensuring the genetic characterization of all people living with ALS.
Today, a new disease pathway for C9orf72-related ALS was revealed in journal Neuron in a study led by principal investigator Dr. Fen-Biao Gao from the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass. The research team found that the C9orf72 expansion leads to DNA damage, signifying another potential ALS therapeutic target. The ALS Association supported this encouraging study that also included current and past Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellows Dr. Dejun Yang (2015 recipient) and Dr. Helene Tran (2012 recipient).
Deborah Silver, an accomplished vocalist and performer, has been active in the fight against ALS since 2009 when her sister was diagnosed with the disease. My sister, Marjie Block, was diagnosed with ALS in 2009. I was by her side visiting doctor after doctor hoping to get any diagnosis other than ALS. We even prayed for Lyme Disease….anything but ALS! Ultimately, this unfortunate diagnosis stayed the same and Marjie’s courageous battle began.
Following up on our June 2016 blog post about edaravone, an intravenous drug therapy produced by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, locally based in Jersey City, N.J., with a head office in Osaka, Japan, there has been recent news as to the status of the drug in the U.S.
As my dad's health declines it's gotten a lot harder to "keep on keepin' on." I've decided to share my perspective so that maybe other people can know they are not alone in their battles.
In July 2016, The ALS Association invited members of the ALS community (defined as people living with ALS, family members, and caregivers) to participate in a community care services survey. This survey included 15 questions and was shared via several of The Association’s communication channels. Nearly 800 members of the community responded.
My mom was diagnosed with ALS in May 2011. She literally lost her speech within 6 weeks of slurring her words. She was semi-retired but enjoyed her job and co-workers, so she still worked part time at a hospital as an insurance biller. Bravery!
My dad chose to live with his disease, even though we lost him a little each day. He traveled, he loved, he laughed, he lived. I can honestly say (with many tears) he lived 100 years in his 59.
Picture, for a moment, that you’re in a straitjacket. You can’t move any limb to free yourself. All day and night long. That’s how I imagine my younger sister Nell has felt over the past seven years as she battles the biggest foe of her life: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS.
From the time I was a small girl I knew that my grandmother, Mildred Anderson, died from complications resulting from ALS. She died in February 1960, when my mother was preparing to give birth to my older brother. One of the big regrets of my mother’s life is that her mother never got to meet her four children and see what wonderful people they became. It is not just every person that has ALS that adds up, it is all the people in their lives and those that come after them. It could be said that “Every Family Adds Up.”
To point at a day on the calendar as the best and worst day of your life is a rare feat. On May 27, 1985, my wife was born - best day of my life. On May 27, 2016, I was told I'm dying - worst day of my life.
The exciting finding that reduction of a single protein, SUPT4H1, specifically reduces toxic gene products associated with C9orf72 long repeat expansions, gives researchers a new potential therapeutic target.
My heart sinks as my mind races with questions. What happened to this man? This is ALS? I thought he was just diagnosed? I knew it was rapidly progressing, but it can’t happen this fast, can it? My train of thought was interrupted by another question from the doctor: “Can you speak at all?” He shakes his head. No. Only the ventilator speaks.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge showed us that when small things add up, they can make the impossible happen. As part of our #EveryDropAddsUp campaign, we're asking YOU to share what things add up to make a difference in your life. Below are some of the responses we've received so far.
Kevin Gosnell, founder of ALS ONE, passed away on Monday because of complications from the disease. Gosnell was diagnosed with ALS in spring 2015 and immediately put his business acumen and CEO leadership skills to work, convening the best minds in the ALS community. He founded ALS ONE in January 2016 and brought together leading neurology experts and care specialists from Massachusetts in partnership to leverage their institutions’ strengths to expedite progress toward finding a treatment for ALS within the next four years.
