משתמשת:DNRGirl/Prize4Life (Israel)
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Backgound[עריכת קוד מקור | עריכה]
Prize4Life was founded, first in the US in 2006, and later in Israel in 2007, by Avichai Kremer, who was diagnosed with ALS at the age of 29, alongside with a group of activists, in the purpose of accelerating the research of the disease and aiding patients. Nowadays, the organization is run by Shay Rishoni, himself an ALS patient. The president of the organization is Ikka Abravanel.
Activity[עריכת קוד מקור | עריכה]
Prize4Life is a result-oriented, non-profit organization, striving towards reaching a breakthrough in the study of ALS, operating in several channels:
- The prize model- the organization offers substantial prizes for measurable accomplishments on the road to solving the main scientific issues preventing the discovery of efficient treatment to ALS.
- Supporting research in the field of ALS.
- Extending resources- by attracting researchers from multiple disciplines, drawing the media’s attention to the battle against ALS, raising public awareness and raising funds.
- Assisting technology- improving the life quality of ALS patients.
Prize4Life’s model draws inspiration from similar successful programs, such as X-Prize, which encourages commercial space travel. These programs attract and accelerate research and development by giving out prizes for measurable accomplishments. Similarly, Prize4Life aspires to expand the existing research resources in the field of ALS by attracting new minds, money and media attention to the battle against the disease. Additionally to launching million dollar prizes, Prize4Life strives to raise donations for the funding of research in the field of ALS and to raise awareness of the terminal disease, in the hopes of finding a cure.
Prize4Life’s programs [עריכת קוד מקור | עריכה]
The ALS Prediction Prize
Prize4Life ran the DREAM-Phil Bowen ALS Prediction Prize4Life during the summer of 2012. In order to win this prize, the participants had to create an algorithm that could predict the progression of the disease better than a standard algorithm could predict. The best prediction was awarded 50,000 dollars. More than 1000 participants from 64 countries participated in the Prediction Prize. On October 15, 2012 two teams were awarded the prize: a team that included two young researchers from Stanford University, CA, and a team from Washington DC that included two statisticians from the scientific marketing company Sentrana. The two winning algorithms were successful in predicting the progression of ALS significantly better than currently used models and from the prediction ability of a specialist in the field. These algorithms can reduce the resources needed for testing new ALS treatments by 23%.
ALS Patients and Gene Database
In order to encourage a breakthrough in clinical trials of ALS, Prize4Life built a database that combines records of ALS patients from completed clinical research. The PRO ACT database contains over more than 8,500 patients from 18 clinical trials. This makes it the largest data base ever created of ALS clinical trials. The database was launched on December 3, 2012 and is freely available to researchers all over the world. The Prediction Prize used a partial group of patients from this database, and more than 150 researchers use it for their work. Furthermore, in order to improve the quality of genetic research on ALS and to combine the genetic research in laboratories all over the world, Prize4Life and the Max Planck Institute for genetic research in Berlin, created an ALS Gene database. This database permits access to a full assessment of data on the ALS genes, and also for Meta-analysis, which shows results and possible conclusions from hundreds of studies that were carried out on ALS.
ALS Forum
In order to attract new researchers to the field of ALS and encourage partnership and cooperation between the researchers, Prize4Life, together with the Alzheimer’s Research Forum, launched the ALS Forum. This forum allows access to industry and research news in the field of ALS, review of companies that are involved in research and information on drug development stages.
Assistive technology
Assistive technology refers to all products designed to improve the lives and enhance the daily function of people with special needs. As part of the organization’s vision and goals, Prize4Life works to develop assistive technology for patients with speech and hand-movement impairment. In July 2014, Prize4Lfe participated in a Make-A-Thon led by the TOM organization. In this event, engineers, programmers, manufactures and product designers from around the world worked to create products that will improve the lives of disabled people. Prize4Life offered a prize to the group whose project would benefit patients most. The winning project was a brain-waves controlled robotic arm. Many other projects developed in this event have the potential to assist ALS patients in various stages of the disease. Prize4Life initiated a few assistive technology projects. The ALS-FRS project aspired to create a better mechanism for the tracking of the disease’s progress. This resulted in the creation of a phone application that monitors patients in their natural environment and collect clinical data. The EyeControll project was designed to help patients who cannot communicate with their surroundings, due to paralysis and speech disabilities, even though they are still mentally healthy and present (“locked-in” patients). The current solutions are expensive, immobile and awkward. The project leads the development of glasses that will identify eye-movement, which, in turn, will be translated into actions by a small computer, attached to a speaker, and which could also communicate by Bluetooth with smartphone apps that will allow the patients further communication with their environment.
External links[עריכת קוד מקור | עריכה]
- Prize4Life official website