Project ALS

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

Someone you know may be working day in and day out to achieve Project ALS' mission by being a part of developing the first effective treatments and cure for ALS. "I was first introduced to Project ALS in 2010, just as I began studying how the spinal cord controls movement as a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University. In the years since, I have been fortunate to witness the steadfast dedication and unwavering vision of the Project ALS team and am honored to have joined their efforts. Their approach of bringing together scientists that work on the basic structure and function of the nervous system with others working at the forefront of translation to the clinic is enabling the multidisciplinary approach needed to better understand ALS and find cures." -Dr. Eiman Azim, an esteemed member of the Project ALS Therapeutics Core and Research Advisory Board. #alsresearch #someoneyouknowals #alsawarenessmonth

On May 22, Project ALS will hold a Town Hall at Kimmel Center for University Life (NYU)?at 5:30 PM (doors open at 5)?to discuss why drugs don’t work in ALS and what we as a community do about it. We want?you to participate in an urgent?discussion?of this growing?health issue.?Someone you know will be touched by ALS.?Let's talk in person about how we can change that together. Please come?for research updates, strategies from those with ALS and community activists--and let's leave with a game plan. RSVP by May 20th here: https://bit.ly/44yt07Z We look forward to seeing you there!

Project ALS congratulates and celebrates research advisory board?member David J. Glass, elected yesterday to the National Academy of Sciences. How fitting! Today is the first day of #alsawarenessmonth. The Project ALS RAB guides research toward better medicine. Let's go!?

Join us for our annual Women & The Brain event at Bowlero Chelsea Piers on April 18th and learn more about women’s brain health before enjoying a night of great food, drinks, bowling and fun! Our special guest and neurologist, Dr. Gayatri Devi, will lead a dynamic discussion on how stress affects the brain, provide practical takeaways for dealing with stress, and answer your questions. Get your ticket today: https://bit.ly/3TbG3bf #stress #alsawareness #brainhealth