Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease in the central nervous system that impacts the brain and spinal cord, resulting in a loss of muscle control.
It is colloquially referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, after the famous baseball player who battled it in the late 1930s, and does not yet have a cure. To better understand the language of ALS, the ALS Glossary below provides definitions for research terms commonly used by our Innovation Ecosystem and the extended ALS community.
sclerosis
Abnormal hardening of body tissue.
speech-generating device (SGD)
Most commonly, a tablet-like device that allows a person to communicate through an electronic voice. Sometimes called augmentative communication equipment.
sporadic ALS
The type of ALS with no obvious family history. More than 90% of ALS cases are sporadic. The rest are familial.
stress granule
Stress granules are structures that form within a cell due to stress conditions, including pathogen infection and other environmental stressors.
supernatant
When separating fluids from solids, the supernatant is the liquid lying above the sedimented solids. Tissue culture supernatants can be a source of monoclonal antibodies. Examples include TALS 828.179 and TALS 828.66.
