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The MDA Wings Over Wall Street ALS annual fundraising event was held on October 2, 2003 . Once again it turned out to be a magnificent evening. We are so grateful to the many volunteers who planned, organized and executed an extraordinary evening to directly support ALS research. We must also express our extreme gratitude to those who came out to generously support the evenings goal ~ more than last years 1.6 million. This year, our esteemed colleague at Columbia University , Dr. Thomas Jessell, Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Biochemistry and Neurobiology, received the 3rd Diamond Award (for dedication to eradicate ALS). He is a national mentor in ALS for ultimately understanding motor neuron biology and the development of stem cell therapy in the future. As the Directors of ALS Research Center, Dr. Przedborski and I would like to express our sincere gratitude to MDA and Wings Over Wall Street. The funds that we receive from this event not only help move ALS research forward at a faster pace, they reinforce with us the confidence we receive from Toni Diamond and her husband Warren Schiffer; Theresa, Carly and Dustin Beier on behalf of Michael to not stop fighting for our patients. The funds raised are precious and each day we renew our commitment as a research team of scientists, on our terms to finding the cause and cure of ALS. In order for many of our patients and supporters to understand why these events are critical to our goal I would like explain briefly how we conduct research in ALS. Any research project takes enormous time and money, but most importantly it requires talented and dedicated researchers. Only with this formula can this difficult task succeed. Curiosity and questions in what we see in patients and disease phenomenon is the first step to research for a cure. In order to solve a research question, we may need to do a small pilot study. Pilot studies may easily fail but individuals who persist to continue, change, and modify those pilot tests can reach a next step to achieve a real research project. At this point, one has to write a grant, perhaps even a number of grants. Writing a grant requires experience, skills, and again a lot of time. Ultimately, peer investigators must be convinced that the proposal is worth funding. Research money has become scarce. Research requires reagents, chemicals, laboratory animals, laboratory tools and equipment, but most important to the research process is the scientists and their staff who conduct the research. The amount of time required from submitting a grant proposal to successful funding, even with the best scenario, is at minimum 9 months to one year. In addition to basic science or laboratory research there is clinical research or what is otherwise known as patient-oriented research. We are also extensively involved with this type of research. Clinical research investigates new discoveries found in the laboratory animals. This process is called translational research, translating new laboratory data to human disease. I am particularly proud that Dr. Przedborski and myself work closely in this regard, maximizing our translational process. This gets research programs to the patient arena faster. Philanthropic support, such as individual donations and events like MDA's Wings Over Wall Street is obviously of critical importance for both laboratory and clinical research at Columbia . Grant funding begins after pilot data is collected therefore we need other support to generate exciting new ideas and collect data to substantiate full grant funding. We use these funds to decrease the waiting time - we cannot waste time in our fight for a cure. Important ideas and urgent research projects cannot wait, we need consistent support. Only with close team work and collaboration among patients, donors, funding agencies, and researchers, we can make a huge impact in this enigmatic disease. In the next issue, Dr. Serge Przedborski , Research Director will tell you more about our laboratory research activities.
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From
the Desk of Hiroshi Mitsumoto, MD
