This month marks the 3-year anniversary of our flagship ALS community. While there have been so many exciting milestones we've reached in that time, we're always looking at ways to bring new insight to this disease.
Today, we're announcing the launch of our Genetics Search Engine for people with ALS. Imagine finding other patients just like you, down to the genetic level. Patients in our ALS community can now do that. (For patients who don't see their genetic mutation right now, that's alright. They can be the first with that genetic mutation to join our community and share information about the disease.)
What does sharing genetics mean for research? By capturing data on familial ALS patients’ known genetics (such as SOD1 A4V, SOD1 D90A, and VAPB P56S), we can learn more about the cause and effects of every kind of ALS and better our chances of advancing research and finding new treatments. Our goal in launching the Genetics Search Engine (and other upgrades like it) is to help patients find others just like them and enhance our understanding of the phenotype of each genetic mutation (i.e., different causes of ALS have faster or slower disease progression).
The Genetics Search Engine is a major step toward incorporating genetics for the PatientsLikeMe communities, and it's an exciting one. Give it a try and let us know what you think...
