Candis R. McLean
Two summers ago, viral videos and friendly challenges swept the globe. Many received entertaining competitive prompts asking them to dump a bucket of ice on themselves and to donate funds to the ALS Association. From everyday people to international stars and celebrities, this invigorating fun act for a great cause had a massive communal following.
In a surprising and amazing revelation, The University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Project MinE recently discovered the gene that is potentially responsible for ALS. Project MinE scientists were able to conduct their research and experiments with the aid of a 1 million dollar donation that was given to the project by the ALS Association. The funds came directly from the overwhelming donations received through the Ice Bucket Challenge.
The ALS Association stated that the challenge raised over 115 million dollars for the disease’s research in the span of eight weeks. More than 80 researchers from 11 countries contributed to the breakthrough which may help scientists create gene targeted therapy for ALS.
Researcer Lucie Bruijn, expressed in a news release, the direct link between the challenge and the tremendous breakthrough, “The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge enabled The ALS Association to invest in Project MinE’s work to create large biorepositories of ALS biosamples that are designed to allow exactly this kind of research and to produce exactly this kind of result.”
ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that affects muscular and physical movement. Through progressive degeneration, paralysis and death, usually transpire within two to five years of diagnosis. Hopefully through continued charitable donations, directed funding, and rigorous research, this can be the first of many developments in the battle to defeat this terrible disease.
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