Scoff no more at the Ice Bucket Challenge: Money raised from the social-media phenomenon from a couple of years ago has led to the discovery of a gene that could help in the search for a cure for ALS.
You might remember when your Facebook feed was filled with videos of people dumping cold water on their heads in summer 2014. Those who didn’t want to participate in the challenge were encouraged to donate money instead toward research on the neurodegenerative disease ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
Earlier this week, the ALS Association announced that the largest study of inherited ALS has identified a new gene, NEK1, “which now ranks among the most common genes that contribute to the disease, providing scientists with another potential target for therapy development.”
The discovery was made by Project MinE, which sequenced the genes of thousands of people worldwide and whose findings were published Monday in the journal Nature Genetics. The ALS Association’s investment in the project wouldn’t have been possible without the Ice Bucket Challenge, the association said in a press release.
In fact, Project MinE says it has found three new genes in the past couple of years. Also during that time, the ALS Association has funded more than 150 research projects, according to its website.
Not a bad example of how social-media activism, sometimes known as “slacktivism” because it usually doesn’t require much effort and sometimes yields nothing, can make a difference. Those 17 million videos posted online as part of the challenge — by everyone from your annoying Facebook friend to Tom Cruise to Stephen Curry — helped raise $115 million in an eight-week period, $77 million of which went to research.
Photo: IndyCar drivers dump a bucket of cold water on the CEO of Hulman & Co. Mark Miles in the winner’s circle after the Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)
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