Project ALS

Get ready for Women’s Night Out 2025, presented by Artemis Rising Foundation! Join us for an unforgettable evening of dinner, drinks, and music at the Edison Rooftop, NYC, on Thursday, May 1—all in support of Project ALS research. We are proud to honor Marcie Fleck, Debbie Wilpon & Leah Stavenhagen for their leadership and dedication to advancing ALS research. Let’s celebrate the power of women, community, and progress in the fight against ALS. Purchase your tickets today: https://lnkd.in/eSUmgTg6 #ProjectALS #WomensNightOut

"I am currently a research consultant to Project ALS, and previously directed the Project ALS Therapeutics Core research program…and my degree is in English literature. Before I took a part-time data entry job at Project ALS in 2011, I planned to go to journalism school – I wanted to understand, and communicate to others, the world issues that sometimes feel so removed from us, but impact our daily lives. At Project ALS, I quickly learned that ALS and related neurodegenerative diseases were an enormous issue—a health tsunami that will affect every one of us. Because Project ALS takes such a hands-on approach to identifying and managing research efforts toward the first meaningful treatments for ALS, I was quickly immersed in our scientific programs and realized that I could do more than write about them – I could directly contribute to the fight against ALS by connecting the people in the lab, to the people their research aims to impact. While a research scientist is trained to be precise and methodical in designing their experiments, my role is to see the big picture of what their experiments could mean for someone with ALS, and support them to that end goal with urgency. Through its bad*ass founders and leaders Meredith and Valerie Estess, Project ALS has shown me and many others that you don’t need a specific credential or academic training to help advance ALS treatments. Every one of us contributing to Project ALS research with our own skills is a woman in science." -Erin Fleming #internationalwomeninscienceday?#womeninscience?#womeninstem

It's no secret. The majority of ALS clinical trials fail. Each failed clinical trial represents lost time and hope. In 2025, the ALS community must unite rationally and aggressively to bend the curve of failure to provide new therapeutic opportunities for those living with ALS. Project ALS will do its part by testing drug candidates not just for “safety” but for their potential effectiveness in a person with ALS—before they ever reach clinical trials. This year The Core aims to set a pre-clinical standard, so that the therapies that arrive at clinical trials have already been assessed for such properties as solubility, brain penetrance, target engagement, and optimal delivery and dosing. Our goal is to set a pre-clinical standard for promising ALS therapies because we are committed to better outcomes in ALS in 2025.

Discover the critical work shaping the future of Project ALS research at our upcoming virtual Town Hall. Join us as we discuss emerging disease models, motor neuron rejuvenation, and the development of potential therapies for ALS. Engage directly with our guest speakers, ask questions, and contribute to the conversation driving progress in the fight against ALS. Sign up for the virtual town hall today: https://bit.ly/497iCX8 #ALS #ALSAwareness

Our dear friend, Caroline Rhea, will be opening this year's?The Alex and Jaci Hermstad Rare Disease Trailblazer Series:?The Strength of One.?This series is inspired by the extraordinary courage of the Hermstad?twins who fought ALS during their teens and twenties.?Join us on November 14th at 11AM EST and hear?how individual patients, families, advocates, clinicians, and scientists are uniting to form a community that will create a future free of ALS. Register today:?https://bit.ly/3Uui0Vp

Evil force or cure-all? AI, or artificial intelligence, is a discovery approach so powerful, we assume either the worst or best from it. The truth is, as the Project ALS Therapeutics Core integrates aspects of AI, drug discovery happens faster. The Core uses AI to identify drug targets that would have taken researchers years to find. The Core uses AI to identify the earliest physical changes in ALS. The Core uses AI to work with drug companies to design more humane and powerful ALS clinical trials. AI comes to the Core as a force for good, better, and best--resulting in tools and therapies that will slow and stop ALS. #AI #ALS #ALSResearch

Inspired by the extraordinary courage of Alex and Jaci Hermstad, who fought ALS during their teens and twenties, we invite nominations for this year’s Trailblazer Award. This honor recognizes individuals who have blazed new paths in the face of unimaginable challenges. We are looking for those who, like Alex and Jaci, have demonstrated extraordinary courage, resilience, and a profound impact on their community. Make your nomination by September 13th:?https://bit.ly/3zdaVkr

Change is coming for ALS drug discovery. New and improved laboratory models of ALS now allow researchers and drug companies to study hopeful drugs earlier than ever. In the old days—before stem cell models of ALS were developed—identifying effective ALS therapies was a crapshoot. Drugs that “looked good on paper” didn't work in people with ALS—and clinical trials failed over 95% of the time. The Project ALS Therapeutics Core and its partners are changing the drug discovery game by testing drugs on improved laboratory models of ALS BEFORE they reach people with ALS. Stands to reason: If a drug can “fix” ALS in laboratory ALS disease models, they're more likely to help people. Rational, aggressive, pre-clinical research = game-changer! Learn more: https://bit.ly/3YqZi3U

It's about time! The Project ALS Therapeutics Core is using AI to speed research toward cures. Core innovator, Alejandro Chavez (University of California San Diego), explains: "Traditional laboratory experiments take weeks to months to complete. Using AI we can perform virtual experiments in a matter of seconds and use these results to design new proteins that are more potent and safer than their natural counterparts. These designer proteins can then be used to help us keep ALS patient neurons healthy or to directly target and remove the toxic proteins that cause disease."

With no cure, it can be hard to have hope for a future free of ALS. Project ALS understands this frustration. Our Director of Research, Valerie Estess, discusses the 26-year journey of Project ALS and what's next in our research efforts: https://bit.ly/3KQrwgr