ALS researchers at UMass Medical School are conducting “ground-breaking’’ work on gene discovery, gene therapy and gene silencing, and on biological research using motor neurons created from adult stem cells, thanks in part to money raised by the “Ice Bucket Challenge” campaign, according to a July 24 story in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.
“I don’t want to sound boastful, but I think we have as rich a program in ALS genetics and biology as any other center anywhere,” said Dr. Robert H. Brown Jr., DPhil, MD, the Leo P. and Theresa M. LaChance Chair in Medical Research and chair and professor of neurology. “We’re right at the forefront with the best of them in those areas.”
Last summer’s viral fundraising campaign contributed more than $2 million to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research at UMMS. John Landers, PhD, professor of neurology, told NECN in a July 23 report that the money has allowed his lab to participate in a national study called Project MinE. Researchers are comparing the DNA of 15,000 ALS patients to 7,500 people who don’t have the disease to try to isolate genetic factors that are involved with ALS.
“If you actually took 5,500 copies of ‘War and Peace’ and put it on your desk and I said there was one misspelled word in these books, go find it, that is essentially what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Dr. Landers said in the NECN report.
Another important source of support for ALS research at UMMS is the 2nd Annual Governor Paul Cellucci Tribute Road Race, to be run Saturday at 9 a.m., starting at the Elks Lodge in Hudson. The race honors the late Gov. Paul Cellucci, who launched the UMass ALS Cellucci Fund to support a cure for ALS, before succumbing to the disease in 2013.
Read the full stories, below:
Telegram: ‘Pivotal’ research on ALS being done at UMass Medical School
New England Cable News: Ice Bucket Challenge: One Year Later
Related links on UMassMedNow:
WCVB-TV: Family of fighter pilot with ALS fights for a cure
Second annual Governor Cellucci Tribute Road Race happening Saturday
