But millions more dollars are now going to research because of the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Advertisement
It was a social media success story that came out of nowhere.
The researchers behind Project MinE attribute much of the project’s funding to the ice bucket challenge, which helped the project secure funding from new places and parts of the world. Pete Frates was diagnosed with ALS in 2012.
But the proof of the pudding was in the eating: the campaign raised more than $100m in a 30-day period, and was able to fully fund a number of research projects.
The impact for the ALS Association was transformative. While this might not mean a cure in the short term, it is a far faster leap in the scientific knowledge of the disease than many people could have hoped. The progressive neurodegenerative disease, acquired by genetics in only 10 percent of ALS cases, affects muscle movement and eventually causes paralysis and death, usually within two to five years of diagnosis.
“The sophisticated gene analysis that led to this finding was only possible because of the large number of ALS samples available”, said Lucie Bruijn Ph.D., M.B.A.in an ALS Association press release.
Now, it looks like those YouTube clips are paying off, as The University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Project made a new discovery: a gene linked to the debilitating disease.
The ALS Association wants to make August ALS month each year.
“If you poured ice water over your head and said ALS, what you did for our community is so overwhelming, you literally changed thousands of peoples’ lives”, Frates said.
Advertisement
Now, scientists have announced a potential breakthrough, thanks to all of the money that was raised.
