[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6037\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EIce buckets pour new attention on little-known area of research\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, long before the campaign went viral, scientists across Europe have been working to combat ALS, which kills ten thousand people each year. Since 2007, the EU has invested over EUR 56 million into research to tackle the disorder, a type of motor neurone disease that paralyses and eventually kills people.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith the help of this funding, European scientists are gradually building a more comprehensive picture of the causes and progression of ALS, with the aim of one day finding a cure. Dr Caterina Bendotti, who is a lead researcher on the Euro-MOTOR project, said the mechanisms through which the disease progresses are still unclear.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018At the moment, we know many more genes linked to the disease but we still need to identify factors that help to make an early diagnosis of the disease,\u2019 said Dr Bendotti. \u2018It takes about one year to be diagnosed and at that point many motor neurons are lost.\u2019\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u2018It takes about one year to be diagnosed and at that point many motor neurons are lost.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EDr Caterina Bendotti, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Milan, Italy\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EResearchers on the Euro-MOTOR project \u2013 who come from 15 different institutes in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom \u2013 are constructing a large database of clinical and lifestyle information of people with ALS across Europe. By applying computational techniques to this data, they aim to build a model of the causes of ALS at a molecular level, which can then be used to provide targets for new therapies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We\u2019ve made very good progress in understanding disease-modifying molecules,\u2019 said Dr Bendotti. \u2018This means that the protein or the gene can be targeted for slowing down significantly the progression of the disease.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, one of the complexities of ALS is that there are many different types; some with a genetic cause and some without a defined origin. Dr Stefania Corti from the University of Milan, Italy, said that scientists are closer to finding a cure for some genetic types of ALS than for sporadic forms \u2013 by using single strands of DNA or RNA, called oligonucleotides, to alter how information from the gene is used.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Corti works on the EU-funded NO-MND project, which looks at the role that a particular type of cell in the brain and spinal cord \u2013 known as an astrocyte \u2013 plays in the onset of ALS. By understanding more about how these cells work researchers hope to develop a new way of treating the disease, for instance by transplanting astrocytes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETurning to the tropics\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHelp with our understanding of the disease is also coming from an unlikely source \u2013 the zebrafish. Researchers on the NOVEL-ALS MODELS project are hoping to identify the gene responsible for ALS and to develop models of these genetic factors using\u0026nbsp;the tropical fish.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Edor Kabashi of the Brain and Spinal Cord Institute in Paris, France, who is leading the project, says that developing multiple animal models is necessary to define the function of ALS-causing genes and to better understand the causes of motor neuron degeneration that occurs in humans.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018The problem in general with ALS is that once the first gene was discovered and a very good mouse model was made, people were hopeful that we would find a cure quite fast,\u2019 he said. \u2018But a lot of the treatments that worked with the mouse didn\u2019t translate to (human) treatments. There has been a lot of lag basically from the result obtained from animal models to translation of these findings in human patients.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EElsewhere, scientists are working on ways of slowing down the progression of ALS by looking at the reasons that some people develop the disease at age 30 and others at age 70, even if they have the same genes.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We want to identify systems that maybe don\u2019t cause ALS but shape it into the disease that it is,\u2019 said Professor Wim Robberecht from the University of Leuven, Belgium, who leads the EU-funded MODIFALS project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There are factors that determine when ALS starts in patients and these are independent of the cause of ALS. If you can influence this then you can change ALS from a disease which starts between the ages of 40 to 60 to a disease which starts from between 100 and 120 years of age.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs most people are unlikely to live this long, this would mean that the disease would be pushed back so far it would be essentially ineffective.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Or you can change ALS from a disease which now incapacitates almost all people after one year into a disease which is associated with minor disability after 20 years of evolution,\u2019 added Prof. Robberecht.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile there is still a lot of work to do to find an effective cure for ALS, scientists have welcomed the new focus on their research brought by the ice bucket challenge,\u0026nbsp;which has raised over EUR 75 million for ALS research. More than 2.4 million ice bucket challenge videos have now been posted online, including one by\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/video.php?v=832914610061710\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 style=\u0022line-height: 1.538em;\u0022\u003EM\u00e1ire Geoghegan Quinn, the EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I know many people from the general public, including my parents, and colleagues who have participated. It\u2019s a great way to raise awareness and to raise funds against this drastic disease,\u2019 said Dr Kabashi.\u003Cdiv class=\u0022moreinfoblock\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3\u003EAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EALS is a type of motor neurone disease, in which the neurons in the brain and spinal cord degenerate, leading to muscle weakness.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs the disease progresses, previously healthy individuals slowly become paralysed, losing control of their body parts one by one. In some tragic cases ALS strikes the face first, leaving the patient unable to speak. Finally the disease hits the lungs, at which point the patient suffocates and chokes to death.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere is as yet no known cure. Some people survive for up to twenty years after diagnosis, although the average survival rate after the onset of symptoms is three years. The only currently available drug extends the lifespan by between three and six months.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-ngl1bjlq44dfyg3v603u5wejuadxwqjmgksxrr-mxaw\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-ngl1bjLQ44DfYG3v603u5weJUadXWQjMgKSxRr_mxAw\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]