Click on the icons on the map to learn about each registered team. This page is constantly updated to to catalog the latest teams that have joined the competition.

Teams competing for:
- ALS Treatment Prize                - Biomarker Prize               - ALS Treatment & Biomarker Prize



Amarantus Therapeutics
Sunnyvale, CA, USA
Amarantus is developing a protein biologic, called MANF, that has been shown to be neuroprotective in a variety of disease and injury models. MANF is a neurotrophic factor with specific activity in preventing apoptosis via an Unfolded Protein Response mechanism.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Anatoly Chernyshev
Nizwa, Oman
The lab in the University of Nizwa investigates stable heavy isotope (18/16O; 15/14N) effects in neurochemical cycles, as a lead for an ALS biomarker.
Competing for: Biomarker Prize

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics
Petach Tikva, Israel
BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics is a leading developer of adult stem cell technologies and therapeutics, derived from autologous (self) bone marrow cells, for the treatments of ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases. Its core patent pending technology, allows for the differentiation of bone marrow-derived stem cells into functional neurons and astrocytes.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Chemigen
Indianapolis, IN, USA
Chemigen is a biotechnology start-up company that is developing therapeutic agents which block progression of neurodegenerative diseases.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Clifford Steer
Minneapolis, MN, USA
Steer and colleagues are investigating the potent anti-apoptotic effects of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) as a potential ALS therapeutic.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

EnVivo Pharmaceuticals
Watertown, MA, USA
EnVivo is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing drugs for central nervous system (CNS) disorders. They are actively engaged in several drug development programs, including one to develop novel brain enetrant HDAC
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Gerry Shaw (University of Florida)/EnCor Biotechnology Inc.
Gainesville, FL, USA
The Shaw group at the University of Florida, in collaboration with clinicians at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and EnCor Biotechnology (www.encorbio.com), is developing an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to reliably detect phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain (pNF-H) in the blood, and using this pNF-H ELISA technology to monitor axonal degeneration in ALS disease progression.
Competing for: Biomarker Prize

Guo-fu Hu
Boston, MA, USA
Dr. Hu's research has been mainly focused on angiogenesis. He has been studying the function and mechanism of angiogenin (ANG), a 14kDa angiogenic ribonuclease, in cancer progression, and more recently, on neurodegeneration.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Harvey Arbesman, Columbia
New York City, NY, USA
Biomarker based on changes in skin conductance
Competing for: Biomarker Prize

Immunity Pharma, Ltd
Jerusalem, Israel
Immunity Pharma, Ltd has developed a novel synthetic peptide exhibiting anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory effects, which is expected to delay or arrest ALS disease progression.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Jay Chung
Bethesda, MD, USA
ALS is characterized by increased oxidative stress in motor neurons. Oxidative damages include DNA damage, which can lead to cell death. Dr. Chung is interested in the DNA damage signaling pathways (e.g. Chk2, ATM, ATR and DNA-PK) as targets for ALS therapy.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Kinemed
Emeryville, CA, USA
KineMed is a company focused on translational medicine, the development and implementation of predictive strategies to optimize decision-making at the interface of basic pharmaceutical research and human clinical applications.
Competing for: ALS Treatment & Biomarker Prize

Maurizio Grimaldi / Southern Research Institute
Birmingham, AL, USA
Maurizio Grimaldi and colleagues at Southern Research Institute have developed small molecule inducers of MnSOD and have shown these compounds to protect cultured primary neurons challenged with neurotoxic agents. The ability of these small molecule activators to upregulate MnSOD antioxidant activity is predicated to counter the effects of excessive free radical damage observed in motor neuron degeneration in ALS.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Michal Schwartz
Jerusalem, Israel
The Schwartz laboratory investigates the interaction between the immune system and nervous system in health and disease. They discovered in ALS a severe systemic immune deficiency that significantly contributes to disease onset and speedy progression, and are currently developing immune-based therapies as potential treatment.
Competing for: ALS Treatment & Biomarker Prize

Neil Cashman / Amorfix
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
The Cashman group has pioneered the identification of 'disease-specific epitopes' (DSEs) of proteins implicated in misfolding diseases, the rationale being that it is desirable to direct immune response against peptides specifically exposed by
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

NexGenix Pharmaceuticals
New York City, NY, USA
NexGenix is a privately-held drug discovery and development company developing small molecule inhibitors of Hsp90 for treatment of cancer and diseases of the nervous system, including ALS.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Oleg Butovsky, Howard Weiner
Boston, MA, USA
The Weiner lab is focused on questions related to neuroimmunoloy and the interface of the immune system with the nervous system, both in health and disease. Dr. Butovsky and Dr. Weiner are actively studying immune mechanisms and novel treatment approaches to multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

PicovirALS
Varese, Lombardy, Italy
Virology laboratory and medical center at the University of Insubria in Northern Italy.
Competing for: Biomarker Prize

Saneron CCEL Therapeutics
Tampa, FL, USA
Saneron is a biotechnology R&D company, focused on neurological and cardiac cell therapy for the early intervention and treatment of several devastating or deadly diseases, which lack adequate treatment options.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Seung Kim
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
The Kim lab is developing cell and gene therapy based approaches to develop an effective ALS therapy. They have engineered human neural stem cells to overexpress VEGF for transplantation in ALS mouse models.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Seward Rutkove
Brookline, MA, USA
Dr. Rutkove is developing a biomarker based on the observation that electrical currents flow differently through healthy vs. diseased muscle tissue. These changes in current flow can be sensitively measured by electrical impedance myography (EIM), a quantative, non-invasive and painless technique to assess muscle health and tract disease progression in ALS patients.
Competing for: ALS Treatment & Biomarker Prize

ShanaRx
Redwood City, CA, USA
ShanaRx is developing novel activators of the PI3K pathway as disease modifying therapies for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize

Victorio Rodriguez / Cerebril
Parma, OH, USA
Dr. Rodriguez is interested in therapeutic and prophylactic uses of cell specific carbonic anhydrase enzymes in treating aging disorders due to oxidative stress,which includes chronic neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's dementia, ALS, and others.
Competing for: ALS Treatment Prize