Cold Spring Harbor, NY - October 20, 2015 - ALS Ride For Life this month presented $300,000 to CSHL Assistant Professor Molly Hammell and Associate Professor Josh Dubnau to pursue research into possible genetic causes of the devastating disease. Since 1997, Ride For Life has conducted an annual twelve-day, one hundred plus mile patient wheelchair ride across Long Island to raise money for ALS research, support and awareness.
Drs. Hammell and Dubnau are collaborating on two research investigations into ALS genetics. They will examine retrotransposons, which are virus-like segments of DNA in our chromosomes that can replicate and that insert themselves into new places in the genome, to study their role in causing the disease. To do so, they will examine post mortem tissue and will take advantage of new mathematical ways to look at enormous amounts of genetic data and make sense of it. It is a novel approach and, if successful, will provide new targets for drug intervention.
The Ride For Life is particularly pleased to fund this important research at CSHL because it is on Long Island, where much of the money is raised.
About Ride For Life
Ride For Life, Inc. (RFL) is a not-for-profit organization begun in 1997 and incorporated two years later. As a patient-driven, volunteer charity, the mission of Ride For Life is to serve the ALS community by: raising funds for research to find a cure, supporting patients and their families through patient services, and raising public awareness of ALS. Each year in ALS Awareness month of May, the organization conducts a twelve-day, one-hundred plus mile patient wheelchair ride across Long Island. Along the Ride route, schools and supporting businesses are visited. A signature activity during the Ride is an iconic crossing of the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. The event draws thousands of participants. alsrideforlife.org
About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Celebrating its 125th anniversary in 2015, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has shaped contemporary biomedical research and education with programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology and quantitative biology. Home to eight Nobel Prize winners, the private, not-for-profit Laboratory is more than 600 researchers and technicians strong. The Meetings & Courses Program hosts more than 12,000 scientists from around the world each year on its campuses in Long Island and in Suzhou, China. The Laboratory’s education arm also includes an academic publishing house, a graduate school and programs for middle and high school students and teachers. For more information, visit www.cshl.edu
Pictured: Ride For Life presents CSHL with $300,000 for ALS research. l-r: CSHL Development Director Karen Orzel, CSHL Assistant Professor Molly Hammell, Ride for Life Founder Chris Pendergast, CSHL Associate Professor Josh Dubnau, Ride For Life board member Dr. Frank Verdone.