Longitude Prize on ALS
Challenge Works, supported by Nesta
Co-funded project
Improve translation
June 2025 - June 2031
£1,000,000*
Summary
The Longitude Prize on ALS is a new £7.5 million global challenge prize to incentivise and reward cutting edge AI-based approaches to transform drug discovery for the treatment of ALS, the most common form of MND. Although some very limited treatments exist to slow the progression of ALS for a short time, the complexity of the disease means that there are no long-term treatments and no cure. For the first time, however, advances in AI mean innovators now have the opportunity to outpace the disease by unlocking vast quantities of patient data that have been generated in the last decade. Seeking innovators from across medical research, biotech, techbio, pharmaceuticals and AI, the Prize will support the top 20 most promising applications who show high potential in both their proposed methodology and team make-up, which should bring together expertise from across multiple disciplines including ALS research and computational biology.
Why is this research important
Through this Prize, not only could we identify new targets for future MND treatments, but we will have also created the largest and most comprehensive collections of ALS patient data of its kind, combining multiple types of biological information and brought together specifically for the Prize. This helps address a major challenge in ALS research, where data is often fragmented and difficult to access due to differing formats and restrictions.
To read more about the Longitude Prize on their website.
*The Prize is a total of £7.5 million and is principally funded by the MND Association, designed and delivered by Challenge Works, supported by Nesta, alongside additional global funders, including My Name’5 Doddie Foundation.
More research projects
View all
Hear about future funding
By subscribing, you confirm that you agree with our terms and conditions.