Drug Screening
Large drug companies do not work on ALS.
As a result, the Project A.L.S.™ team has developed strategies for screening drugs and chemical compounds that will slow or stop ALS.
Project A.L.S.™ works with the Harvard Neurodiscovery Center, where Project A.L.S.™ scientists are developing new micro-assays-or cellular models of ALS-to test thousands of drugs candidates rapidly.
In the search for drug, it is crucial that our assays represent human ALS. In collaboration with the Motor Neuron Center at Columbia University and Harvard University, the Project A.L.S.™/Jenifer Estess Laboratory for Stem Cell Research has developed the first ALS micro-assays based on patient DNA. This technology, known as iPS, allow scientists to derive motor neurons and other brain cells implicated in ALS from a tiny sample of a patient’s skin (see video). Researchers are using this patient-derived assay to screen for ALS drug.
It is thought that several existing drugs have great potential to treat ALS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other brain disorders. One of the great challenges remains drug delivery. Project A.L.S.™ researchers are devising a variety of methods for delivering therapies to the brain safely and effectively.
