UMass Chan Awarded $800K For ALS Research

WORCESTER, MA — A medical school in Worcester was awarded a large sum of money to advance research into a fatal disease.

The Angel Fund for ALS Research awarded UMass Chan Medical School $800,000, the school announced on Friday. The funding is meant to accelerate research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease or ALS.

ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting the brain and the spinal cord. People with the disease slowly lose the ability to initiate and control muscle movement, often leading to total paralysis and death within two to five years of diagnosis. While 10 percent of ALS is genetic, the other 90 percent is considered sporadic, the school said.

The donation supports the work of two leaders in ALS research. That is Robert H. Brown Jr., who serves as the Donna M. and Robert J. Manning Chair in Neuroscience and a professor of neurology and Daryl Bosco, who serves as the Paul J. DiMare Chair in Neurodegenerative Disease, a professor of neurology and biochemistry, and molecular biotechnology, and the associate vice chair of research for the Department of Neurology.

The medical school said that Dr. Brown is considered a pioneer in ALS research. Dr. Brown discovered the first gene linked to hereditary ALS and led the first clinical trial for ALS using gene therapy.

“All of us in the UMass Chan ALS research program feel deeply grateful to The Angel Fund for its continuing support,” said Dr. Brown. “This has made a decisive difference in the breadth of our program, which almost exclusively focus on investigations related to therapy development. Some of our most innovative programs have been possible because of the generosity of The Angel Fund.”

Rich Kennedy, the president of The Angel Fund for ALS Research, was diagnosed with the disease in 2016 at 56 years old. That was after he lost his father to ALS, along with his brothers Jimmy and Jake.

The Angel Fund has been dedicated to supporting groundbreaking research for more than 20 years. Since 1997, it has raised millions of dollars to support scientific research, clinical trials and efforts aimed at ending ALS.

In total, The Angel Fund has contributed more than $10 million to ALS research and more than $2 million in the last three years.

“The most recent donation will help propel the work being done at UMass Chan to get a better understanding of the mechanisms of ALS, identify new therapeutic targets, and accelerate the development of more effective treatments to change the trajectory of this devastating disease,” said Angel Fund for ALS Research President Rich Kennedy.“Tremendous progress has been made in the last few years, and I am confident that The Angel Fund has been a factor in moving this research forward through the discretionary funding that we provide."

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