( The largest-scale search for genes that...)First International Gene Screen for Typical ALS Is on Track,Health

The largest-scale search for genes that underlie sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the most common form of the disease, has crossed its first hurdle with the// successful compiling of genetic information on more than 1,000 patients and controls.

Researchers in the study, supported by The Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) and the ALS Association, present their initial findings this week at the 17th International Symposium on ALS/MDA at Yokohama, Japan. The symposium is the major venue, worldwide, for reporting studies on the disease.

It’s a good beginning to the first broad screening for genes for the “spontaneous” illness which, like all ALS, destroys the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that enable movement, including breathing.

Packard Center grantee Bryan Traynor and John Hardy, both with the NIH, are leading an American and Italian team of researchers in the million-dollar project. “If all goes well,” Traynor says, “the work will clarify the role of genes-or lack of it-in sporadic ALS. That role has long been uncertain,” he explains. “We don’t know, for example, if sALS is triggered by a handful of interacting genes or genes plus environment or environment alone. Our work aims to clarify that.”

In the study, DNA was collected from patients and healthy controls and successfully scanned for specific patterns that appear more frequently in those with the disease than those without it.

Critical to the work-known to scientists as a high resolution, genome-wide association study-is its technology. It’s a high-throughput approach (that is, it treats many samples simultaneously) that uses robotics and just-available gene finder chips to mine each patient’s DNA for information with a speed and accuracy not possible six months ago.

The project, which began last spring, was completed in record time, ref
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