Longitude Prize on ALS
The £7.5 million Longitude Prize on ALS incentivises the use of AI-based approaches to transform drug discovery for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
“Never before have we had the power to unlock the complexity of MND, and in particular ALS, and accelerate along the road to long-term treatments, and, I hope one day, a cure. The Longitude Prize on ALS makes this possible, convening the largest data set of ALS patient data of its kind ever made available and rewarding researchers to use AI to identify the most promising drug targets.”
What is ALS?
ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), the most common form of motor neuron disease (MND), is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that is currently incurable, with an average life expectancy post-diagnosis of just two to four years. Although often described as a rare disease, incidence is not uncommon: there is a 3 in 1000 chance that a person develops MND in their lifetime with ALS being the most prevalent subgroup of the disease. Current treatment for sporadic forms of ALS (up to 85% of those diagnosed) is restricted to one approved therapy and supportive care, however, research into the causes of the disease has accelerated in recent years.
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for the brightest minds to bring AI to the fight against ALS.
The Prize will award applicants from across medical research, biotechnology, computational biology and AI with bold ideas on how to harness the power of AI to identify and validate high-potential therapeutic targets for the discovery of transformative ALS therapeutics.
We are looking for:
- AI experts
- Computational biologists and bioinformaticians
- Neurodegenerative disease researchers and ALS researchers
- Biotechnology, techbio and pharmaceutical companies
- Data scientists and engineers
- Clinical experts and medical researchers.
