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Center for ALS Research at Hopkins Named
for Robert Packard Uniformly fatal, ALS or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes loss of muscle control and death within two to five years of diagnosis. Robert Packard, an investment banker in San Francisco, was diagnosed with ALS in November 1999, at the age of 41. He died of the disease less than a year later, in August 2000. Because current treatments are limited, the newly named Center was created to bring together more than 100 leading scientists from Hopkins and elsewhere to focus efforts and improve efficiency in ALS research. "The Center is an extremely visionary way of focusing resources to combat one of the least understood and most devastating of human diseases," says Edward Miller, M.D., CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine and dean of the school of medicine. "The Robert Packard Foundation's investment in ALS research at Hopkins will help attract other interest and investments," adds William Brody, M.D., Ph.D., president of The Johns Hopkins University, who is scheduled to speak at the ceremony. "It will secure the Center's future in helping find a cure for ALS." Working in a worldwide collaboration, Center scientists hope to translate new knowledge as quickly as possible into potential therapies, says Center director Jeffrey Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D. "The Center empowers researchers to aggressively and collaboratively tackle ALS, and the results will likely be applicable to some other neurodegenerative disorders as well," says Rothstein, also professor of neurology and neuroscience at Hopkins. "Among other projects, Center researchers are pursuing the identification and study of new ALS genes, development of novel therapeutics, and seeing how stem cells might be applied to this devastating disease." Anne Martin, president of the Robert Packard Foundation and vice chair of the Center's board of governors, worked closely with Packard and is also scheduled to speak at the ceremony. Over the span of four years, the Center has awarded more than $3 million to fund more than 23 research projects determined most promising by a panel of ALS scientists. The Baltimore Orioles provided $2 million in seed money to help initiate the Center. Donations from The Robert Packard Foundation and The Emily Davis and Joseph S. Kornfeld Foundation provided funds to the Center in early 2000.
The Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins is a collaborative effort by some of the best ALS and non-ALS scientists to aggressively and rapidly develop new treatments and find a cure for ALS, also know as Lou Gehrig's disease. It's the only institution of its kind dedicated solely to the disease. Research conducted by the Center is meant to translate from bench to bedside in a expedited time frame. Center scientists from institutions around the world have made some of the most important discoveries in ALS, leading to advances in understanding and treatment of the disease. The nature of ALS shapes the Center's aggressive, results-oriented scientific approach. ALS is a divesting, progressive neuromuscular disease that causes complete paralysis and loss of function-including the ability to eat, speak, and breathe-and eventually, death. ALS progresses quickly and is not curable. Most patients die within five years of diagnosis. |
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