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The challenge involved people pouring ice-cold water over
their heads, posting video on social media, and donating funds
for research on the condition, whose sufferers include British
physicist Stephen Hawking.
Celebrities including Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, Ellen
DeGeneres, Benedict Cumberbatch and former U.S. President George
W. Bush were among millions of people who took part in 2014,
attracting more than 400 million views on social media.
The challenge raised $220 million worldwide, according to the
Washington-based ALS Association. News of the gene discovery
again sent Ice Bucket Challenge viral, proving one of the top
trending topics on Twitter on Wednesday.
The money funded the largest ever study of inherited ALS and
identified a new gene, NEK1, that ranks among the most common
genes that contribute to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the ALS
Association said in a statement on Monday.
"Global collaboration among scientists, which was really made
possible by ALS Ice Bucket Challenge donations, led to this
important discovery," said John Landers of the University of
Massachusetts Medical School. Landers and Jan Veldink of
University Medical Center Utrecht led the study involving
researchers in 11 countries.
“It is a prime example of the success that can come from the
combined efforts of so many people, all dedicated to finding the
causes of ALS," Landers said in a statement.
The research was published in the scientific journal Nature
Genetics this week and scientists hope it will provide another
potential target for therapy development.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant and Melissa Fares; Editing by
Jonathan Oatis)
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