UMass Chan receives $711K donation for ALS research

Photo | Courtesy | UMass Medical School Dr. Robert Brown

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By Isabel Tehan

The Angel Fund for ALS Research in Wakefield has donated $711,000 to researchers at Worcester’s UMass Chan Medical School.

The researcher recipient of the donation, Dr. Robert Brown, professor of neurology and neuroscience chair, led the first clinical trial for ALS using gene therapy. The donation was announced at the Angel Fund’s annual gala on Sept. 29.

“All of us on the UMass Chan ALS research team are profoundly grateful to the Angel Fund for its generous support. Support from the Angel Fund has been enormously important in our efforts to develop innovative ALS therapies,” Brown said in a Thursday announcement from UMass Chan.

The Angel Fund has provided more than $6 million to UMass Chan researchers in the past 15 years, according to the announcement.

“The Angel Fund for ALS Research is pleased and honored to support the work of Dr. Brown and the entire staff at UMass Chan,” Angel Fund President Rich Kennedy said in the announcement. “The hard work undertaken by the researchers on a daily basis is making significant progress and gives us genuine hope that we’re moving closer to an effective treatment and ultimately a cure for ALS.”

In August, UMass Chan joined a collaboration funded by the ALS Association to create a cloud-based genetic database for ALS research.