New York City – With a shared goal of accelerating ALS drug discovery and development, the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and Target ALS today announce a new partnership to provide AAN funded clinical fellows working on ALS with unprecedented access to Target ALS Core Facilities.
Historically, ALS researchers have cited poor quality, lack of standardization, limited accessibility and the high-cost of critical tools as major barriers to advancing their ideas. In 2013, Target ALS began to tackle these issues by creating a series of new core facilities that leverage the expertise of top academic centers and contract research organizations. Today, Target ALS Core Facilities offer the largest collection of next generation tools and resources for ALS researchers in the world ranging from biospecimens and genomic datasets to antibodies and human stem cell models.
Target ALS makes all of these materials at the Core Facilities accessible to investigators worldwide with no strings attached. In the last five years, hundreds of researchers have utilized these tools; accelerating dozens of drug discovery projects. Under the terms of the new AAN and Target ALS partnership, use of Target ALS Core Facilities by AAN clinical fellows working on ALS will be substantially subsidized by Target ALS – empowering investigators to expand or further accelerate their research projects. If successful, this partnership will also encourage and enable AAN funded clinical fellows to transition to an independent academic career in ALS research.
“Together, the American Academy of Neurology and Target ALS share a stated mission to drive scientific discovery and improve the lives of patients. We applaud the AAN for their outstanding leadership and look forward to supporting their promising clinical fellows studying ALS.” said Target ALS Chief Executive Officer Manish Raisinghani. Specific requests for information regarding Target ALS tools and resources can be sent to Dr. Raisinghani at manish.raisinghani@targetals.org.
About the American Academy of Neurology
The American Academy of Neurology is the world’s largest association of neurologists and neuroscience professionals, with 34,000 members. The AAN is dedicated to promoting the highest quality patient-centered neurologic care. A neurologist is a doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating and managing disorders of the brain and nervous system such as Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, migraine, multiple sclerosis, concussion, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit AAN.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
