Image credit: ALSA.org
Hey guys, remember that COOL trend two years ago that challenged you to dump a bucket of ice over your head to support ALS? Well hopefully you didn’t turn a COLD shoulder on that opportunity, because the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is responsible for a major breakthrough in ALS research!
It’s hard to believe the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral over two years ago. At the time it had seemed like everyone was getting involved, including a good amount of familiar famous faces (including the founders of Nerd Reactor themselves). The challenge was simple, the participant would be filmed pouring a container full of ice and cold water over their head then would nominate several others to do so. Nominees would have 24 hours to create their own video or forfeit the challenge by way of a charitable donation to an ALS Research Association.
The cast of Arrow participates in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
The celebrity involvement definitely fueled this campaign, not only posting their Ice Bucket Challenge online and nominating each other, but encouraging people to donate as well.
The point of this campaign was to raise both awareness and funds in support of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (also referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease or simply as ALS), a terrible disorder that involves the death of the neurons that control voluntary muscle.
While the challenge may have seemed silly at the time, it has just been announced that $1 million that had been raised from the campaign just provided the means to a major breakthrough in ALS research. Maybe even more impressive, the $1 million used to fund this breakthrough is out of the $220 million that had been raised from this “silly” challenge. Imagine what the other $219 million might do!
Coordinated by Project MinE, the largest ever study of ALS that had been genetically inherited was conducted. More than 80 researchers across the globe banded together to search for a gene that can identify ALS in individuals. After conducting research across 11 countries and on multiple families affected by the disease, a gene was finally found.
The gene is being named NEK1, and its identity is a huge deal. By identifying this gene within individuals at risk for ALS, researchers can now work on a therapy to treat genetically inherited ALS. While ALS currently has no cure, this new advancement in ALS research might just pave the road to preventing the disease before it begins.
There have been 6 other projects funded from the Ice Bucket Challenge, and many more are on the way. For more information, check out the ALS Association website and the article in the Natures Genetics Journal. Also check out this compilation of celebrities participating in the challenge:
from Nerd Reactor
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