Standing in front of the Emory University School of Medicine on August 17th, a group from the Emory ALS Center took the Ice Bucket Challenge and challenged Emory staff, faculty and students to join them. 

Prior to the unleashing of buckets of ice water, Jonathan Glass, MD, the center's director, named specific groups they would like to see take the challenge and raise funds for ALS research: 1) colleagues at the Brain Health Center at Emory, which includes the departments of neurology, neurosurgery, rehabilitation medicine, and psychiatry, and 2) the incoming freshman class at Emory University.

Glass has been part of a group of researchers from 15 countries collaborating on a genome-wide association study, Project MinE. The largest-ever study of inherited amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the project has identified a new ALS gene, named NEK1. Project MinE originated in the Netherlands and includes researchers in the U.S., United Kingdom, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Belgium. Funding for the U.S. portion of the genetic research program came from The ALS Association through donations raised during the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.