The underlying disease process of ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), a fatal neurodegenerative disease that paralyzes its victims, has long eluded scientists and prevented development of effective therapies. However, a new study from Foundation researcher Dr. Teepu Siddique and his team has identified a common cause of all forms of ALS for the first time.
Please visit our full coverage page for further explanation of this discovery and its impact for patients and families worldwide, a short video, and a selection of comments from experts, media, patients and families.
The Les Turner ALS Research Laboratory led by Teepu Siddique, MD, is focused on understanding the processes by which ALS develops so that effective treatments can be developed. The lab was first dedicated in 1979 and has been directed by Dr. Siddique since 1991.
Dr. Siddique, the Les Turner ALS Foundation/Herbert C. Wenske Foundation Professor, is a physician-investigator with expertise in the neurology, molecular genetics, biochemistry and cell biology of neurodegenerative disease. He is the director of the Division of Neuromuscular Medicine at Northwestern, where he leads the Les Turner ALS Research Laboratory and is co-director of the Les Turner/Lois Insolia ALS Center. His research in neurogenetics has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1985.
Dr. Siddique’s research has focused on the complex genetics of ALS and related disorders, employing a wide range of strategies to identify several genes that causes ALS (SOD1, ALSIN & FUS) as well as locations associated with disease on chromosomes X, 15 and 19. His group has developed animal models for SOD1- and ALSIN-ALS. Recent projects have uncovered genetic factors associated with risk for ALS cases that do not appear to be hereditary. These cases are known as "sporadic ALS."
The Les Turner Laboratory maintains a Neurologic Diseases Registry that contains over 16,000 blood samples and 120 autopsied ALS cases.
