Cold Spring Harbor, NY — ALS Ride For Life this month presented $300,000 to CSHL Assistant Professor Molly Hammell and Associate Professor Josh Dubnau to pursue research into possible genetic causes of the devastating disease. Since 1997, Ride For Life has conducted an annual twelve-day, one hundred plus mile patient wheelchair ride across Long Island to raise money for ALS research, support, and awareness.
Drs. Hammell and Dubnau are collaborating on two research investigations into ALS genetics. They will examine retrotransposons, which are virus-like segments of DNA in our chromosomes that can replicate and that insert themselves into new places in the genome, to study their role in causing the disease. To do so, they will examine post mortem tissue and will take advantage of new mathematical ways to look at enormous amounts of genetic data and make sense of it. It is a novel approach and, if successful, will provide new targets for drug intervention.
The Ride For Life is particularly pleased to fund this important research at CSHL because it is on Long Island, where much of the money is raised.
Written by: Communications Department | publicaffairs@cshl.edu | 516-367-8455
About Ride For Life
Ride For Life, Inc. (RFL) is a not-for-profit organization begun in 1997 and incorporated two years later. As a patient-driven, volunteer charity, the mission of Ride For Life is to serve the ALS community by: raising funds for research to find a cure, supporting patients and their families through patient services, and raising public awareness of ALS. Each year in ALS Awareness month of May, the organization conducts a twelve-day, one-hundred plus mile patient wheelchair ride across Long Island. Along the Ride route, schools and supporting businesses are visited. A signature activity during the Ride is an iconic crossing of the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan. The event draws thousands of participants. alsrideforlife.org