A Cure for ALS

On Friday November 25th 2016 the ALS League Belgium granted 302.000 euro research funding, collected throughout 2016 via its fund “A cure for ALS”. Via this research fund the League stimulates and finances research into the incurable and fatal nerve muscle disease ALS.

“A Cure for ALS” is the research fund of the ALS Association, Belgium. Donations to the fund are spent entirely on scientific research, without any deduction of administrative costs. Sponsors and donors may decide autonomously which projects are to be supported by their donation. Consequently, they can in a targeted and transparent way identify the project of their choice; a project supported by the ALS Association which offers a high probability of success.

Intention, purpose, cost and specific expectations for each individual project are described on the ALS Association’s website. Each project also has its own detailed web page, including a counter indicating the total amount of donations collected so far. Any time a donation is being transferred, the counter is adjusted accordingly, while the outstanding amount is indicated as well.

Prof Van Damme and Prof. Van Den Bosch are, for many years, specializing in ALS research at the KU Leuven / VIB. On the one hand, they focus on stem cell research, by which from the body cells of ALS patients, human stem cells including motor neurons are generated and studied. On the other hand mechanisms that lead to the loss of motor neurons are being unraveled and factors that affect the disease process are being mapped by means of the insertion of defect human ALS genetic material in the fruit fly as an animal model.

Technical information on both projects and information on the research teams can be obtained via the website ALS.be sub heading A Cure for ALS. Information on the project portfolio anno 2017 will soon be available at this same site.

"The ALS Association is proud of the Belgian researchers and the progress they make. That's why we have chosen to support them through donations to the ALS Association," says Evy Reviers, CEO. "For many years, we enjoy a fruitful collaboration with the University of Leuven and we like supporting a breakthrough."