Remember the activity in 2014 that involved dumping a bucket of cold water and ice on the head by various celebrities and people 2 create awareness about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)? It was an attempt to create awareness and to raise funds for the treatment of this disease.

While the naysayers continue to say that this social media phenomenon was promoting slackivism, well looks like the critics are just being proven wrong as this ‘crazy’ idea just funded a major breakthrough in the research to find a cure for ALS.

Thanks to $100 million raised by by this online challenge the University of Massachusetts Medical School Private Project, the MinE reports to have identified NEK1 as the most prominent gene that causes the disease. It was also published in Nature Genetics.

According to the reports it was said that over 18℅ of people in America are diagnosed of this disease each year. Fortunately the NEK1 will lead to better treatment of ALS.

Bernard Muller, the founder of MinE said,

“The idea of raising funds for the project in new ways and wish really gave a boost to transact with collaborations to identify genetic disorders of ALS.”

This of course is a great step towards helping the patients. Today many people suffer from this disease and die after 2-5 years of diagnosis. Discovery of NEK1 is surely a leap towards finding a cure of this disease.

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Author: Technology and Beyond