Challenge Me to Find More ALS Genes

By John Landers, Ph.D.
University of Massachusetts Medical School

Furthering our understanding of disease and the creation of effective therapies won’t happen in a vacuum. My peers and colleagues in the medical research community know first-hand the necessity of global collaborations that bring diverse specialties into the process of understanding complex medical mysteries such as ALS.

A few months before the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, my colleagues and I approached The ALS Association about investing in the work of Project MinE, a global research consortium focused on understanding the genetics of ALS. Although the Association had a deep interest in advancing work to understand the genetic factors associated with ALS, resources to participate in a significant way were constrained. Genetics research is expensive, and there simply was not sufficient budget to establish a Project MinE branch in the United States.

But gallons upon gallons of ice water later, everything changed.

Challenge Me to Make the Impossible Possible

By Dexter Ang
Co-founder & CEO, Pison Technology

Watching my mother struggle to interact with the world as her ALS progressed was extremely difficult for our family, and for me personally. Her struggle inspired me to find solutions that could help people like my mother better interact with computers and their environment, even after they have lost almost all of their ability to move. I had the motivation to advance technology in a way that would bring a new quality of life to people living with ALS under Steve Saling’s motto that until medicine proves otherwise, technology is the cure.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the Ice Bucket Challenge, funds were made available to my company when we won The ALS Association’s Assistive Technology Challenge in 2016. These funds were used to launch my company, Pison Technology, and take my ideas for assistive technology from concept into development. I am grateful every day for the millions of people who participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge and created a whole new environment for those of us working to empower people living with ALS to live more fulfilling lives.

Challenge Me to Revolutionize the Treatment of ALS

By Don Cleveland, Ph.D.
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University of California, San Diego

There was a lot of skepticism in the research community when we proposed development of designer DNA drugs as a way to treat ALS. This therapy is an approach that uses DNA-based designer drugs to “silence” genes that are known to cause a particular disease. The ALS Association was the first funding organization to invest in designer DNA technology research and development for therapy in neurodegenerative disease.

The ALS Association, from the beginning to the present, has been the boldest supporter of designer DNA drug technology and its support has been transformative for the development of promising new therapies. With ALS Ice Bucket Challenge donations, generated by people like you, the Association has been able to double down on its investment in designer DNA drugs. These include trials underway for the two most common genetic causes of ALS, mutation in the SOD1 or C9orf72 genes. Designer DNA drugs to silence either of those genes are now in clinical trials and we’re encouraged by the data gathered thus far. Ice Bucket support also enabled identification of new gene targets that are affected in essentially all ALS patients and that are ideal targets for designer DNA drugs.

What People With ALS Want You to Know About ALS

Challenge Me to Educate the World About ALS

We launched the Challenge Me campaign last week. Challenge Me picks up where the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge left off. This time, we are challenging the world to do anything and everything they can to help end ALS.

“Challenge Me” is a concept well known to people living with ALS who face an insidious foe every single day. Pat Quinn, who co-founded the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge with Pete Frates in 2014, talks about affirming his readiness to take on whatever ALS may throw at him that day. He says “Challenge Me” captures the spirit and determination of people with ALS.

We asked some other folks in the ALS community what they want you to know about ALS. Here is what they said.

Challenge Me to Help Find a Cure for ALS

By Calaneet Balas
President & CEO, The ALS Association

Last week, Pete Frates and Pat Quinn unveiled a new campaign – Challenge Me — to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and reengage the millions around the world who took the Challenge. Pat and Pete brought the Challenge Me ethos to life with the Ice Bucket Challenge and they have continued to inspire the entire ALS community over the last five years.

Challenge Me alludes to a worldwide phenomenon created and shared by ALS patients, their families, and their friends. Challenge Me is the way anyone and everyone can support people living with ALS. Just as people living with ALS challenge themselves every day, Challenge Me calls on all of us to have the courage, the strength, and the faith to do anything and everything possible to help find a cure for ALS.

TODAY Show Participates in Challenge Me with Pie-In-Your-Face Challenge

TODAY hosts Savannah Guthrie and Jenna Bush Hager took part in The ALS Association’s Challenge Me campaign by taking the pie #InYourFaceALS challenge.

“It’s actually been five years since the Ice Bucket Challenge swept the country. Can you believe it?” Bush Hager said.

“There’s a brand-new social campaign to raise money and awareness for ALS called Challenge Me,” she added.

Challenge Me to Change the Fight Against ALS Forever

By Pat Quinn and Pete Frates
Co-Founders, ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Five years ago, we challenged our friends and family to dump buckets full of ice over their heads to raise awareness and funds for ALS. The rest is history. This year, we have a new message: Challenge Me.

What started as a crazy idea turned into the biggest movement in the history of medicine. Over the next few weeks athletes, celebrities, politicians, families and friends around the world took the Challenge and changed the fight against ALS forever. In the summer of 2014, over 17 million people took the Ice Bucket Challenge and raised over $220 million for ALS organizations.