A £7.5 million world problem prize has launched to incentivise AI-based approaches to rework drug discovery for the therapy of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
ALS is a type of motor neurone illness (MND) that damages the nerves within the mind and spinal wire, resulting in extreme muscle degeneration which finally results the muscle mass used to swallow meals, drink and breathe.
The Longitude Prize on ALS will initially reward 20 of essentially the most promising entrants with ‘discovery awards’ of £100,000 every to work on drug discovery for ALS.
Tanya Curry, chief government on the MND Affiliation, stated: “Empowering a few of the brightest minds throughout science and expertise to come back collectively, the Longitude Prize on ALS will provoke transformative change for folks residing with motor neurone illness.
“We’re investing as a principal funder as enabling such collaborations, in addition to the extent of unprecedented information we’re working to unlock, marks the beginning of a big milestone for drug discovery, the MND Affiliation and wider MND group in how we perceive and consequently sort out the illness.”
Groups shall be judged on the potential for his or her strategy to establish and validate drug targets driving understanding of the ailments and supporting onward translation into drug discovery.
Problem Works will help the highest 20 functions which present excessive potential in each their proposed methodology and group make-up, bringing collectively experience from throughout a number of disciplines together with ALS analysis and computational biology.
Profitable candidates may even achieve entry to the massive and complete collections of ALS affected person information, combining a number of kinds of organic data and introduced collectively for the prize.
Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi, director of the UK MND Analysis Institute, stated: “Revolutionary approaches to drug discovery could possibly be recreation altering by way of how we perceive ALS.
“Utilizing AI-led innovation to uncover particular molecules within the physique linked to the illness that may be focused with a drug is step one to discovering efficient therapies.
“The chance the Longitude Prize on ALS presents is large.”
After the preliminary discovery awards have been granted, 10 groups will progress to a second stage, receiving an additional £200,000 in 2027 to construct the proof base for his or her proposed therapeutic targets in silico and within the lab.
In 2028, 5 groups will then obtain £500,000 to undertake validation of the very best potential recognized targets within the moist lab.
The successful group shall be introduced in early 2031 and shall be awarded £1 million for figuring out the goal with the strongest proof of therapeutic potential.
The entry window is open till 3 December 2025, with the 20 profitable entrants anticipated to be named within the first half of 2026.
