The goal of this project is to develop a new kind of blood test for ALS. Most diagnostic tests look for one molecule at a time. Like listening to an entire orchestra instead of one instrument, this platform uses nanosensor technology to read patterns across many molecules simultaneously. It can detect signatures in a patient’s blood that standard tests miss, and it has the potential to identify both diagnostic markers and new drug targets. This project received the 2025 ALS Network Research Innovation Grant ($150,000) and is ready to run.
Principal investigators: Daniel Heller and Stanislav Piletski at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
ALS Network grant announcement: https://alsnetwork.org/als-network-and-als-united-announce-new-research-grantees/
Partners:
- Memorial Sloan Kettering
- University of Modena and Reggio Emilia
- Target ALS
- ALS TDI
- ALS Network
- ALS United
What this project needs:
- Blood samples. The technology is built so what it needs now is serum and plasma from ALS patients with well-documented clinical histories. If you have access to a biobank or are involved in sample collection, this project is looking for partners.
Next step: blood samples from before and after C9orf72 genetic carriers develop disease. These are hard to come by with less than 2 dozen documented cases and samples/data scattered across the world—see below. But we’re trying to change that. PST, carriers: this is why observational clinical trial participation is critical. I recommend ALL ALS PREVENT, ALL FTD, ALS TDI ARC, and Everything ALS as national programs you can join from anywhere.