Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, more commonly known as ALS, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease in the central nervous system that impacts the brain and spinal cord, resulting in a loss of muscle control.
It is colloquially referred to as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, after the famous baseball player who battled it in the late 1930s, and does not yet have a cure. To better understand the language of ALS, the ALS Glossary below provides definitions for research terms commonly used by our Innovation Ecosystem and the extended ALS community.
Familial ALS
A genetically inherited form of ALS that accounts for about 5% to 10% of all ALS cases.
frontotemporal dementia (FTD)
A progressive brain disorder that affects personality, behavior and language. Some people with ALS caused by C9orf72 gene mutations develop FTD
functional genomics
A field of study focused on understanding the activity of genes and other parts of the genome, including how they are regulated and the consequences of variation/mutation.Â
