Bruce Hornsby Benefit Concert. For more information about the concert, contact Cathy Easter at 804-836-1750x101 or ceaster@alsinfo.org.

Bruce Hornsby to perform benefit concert on Saturday, September 25 at the Sandler Center in Virginia Beach Hornsby, a Williamsburg native, is involved with The ALS Association because of a personal connection to the disease. In 2007 his Office Manager, Melissa Smith, was diagnosed with ALS. The Hornsbys are now supporting Melissa's fight in a much more public way: this concert will raise money for the ALS Association, whose patients - including Melissa - are directly benefited by The Association's patient services...read more.

Josh Thompson receives a kiss from his wife (L) Joy Thompson and from his mother Kathy Thompson. The photograph was taken at Josh and Joy Thompson’s wedding on May 15, 2006. He was diagnosed with ALS one year later.

Caregiver’s Quilt Contest Supports ALS Research Kathy Thompson of Virginia Beach, VA has launched a new fundraising campaign during National Family Caregivers Month. The goal of the “Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS” contest is to increase awareness about the disease, raise funds for The Association’s global research program through an online raffle and auction of the quilts, and “warm the hearts and laps of ALS patients.” Contact us for more information.

Genome Study Identifies Chromosome 9 Link to ALS In an ALS Association-funded study conducted in Finland, researchers found that a major cause of familial ALS was located on chromosome 9p21.  Finland is a well suited location for a genome-wide association (GWA) study of ALS because the incidence of the ALS is one of the highest in the world, and the genetic background of the Finnish population is relatively homogenous.  Previous GWA studies have failed to identify a single location that is significant and can be replicated in other studies probably because of the heterogeneity of the disease. “Although GWA study has been a disappointing approach to find new genes linked to sporadic ALS, it is encouraging to see the approach used successfully in a more homogeneous population,” said ALS Association Chief Scientist Dr. Lucie Bruijn, Ph.D. In the study published in Lancet Neurology, 853 DNA samples were collected from 442 people with ALS and 521 control individuals.  Control samples were from a population-based study of elderly Finnish individuals.  People known to carry the SOD1 gene were included in the final analysis as positive controls to assess whether this genome-wide association study was able to detect an association signal.   Read the full story

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