Longitude Prize on ALS unveils 20 global teams advancing to Stage 1
Twenty of the world’s leading research teams have been awarded a share of £2 million (approximately AUD$4 million) as part of the Longitude Prize on ALS. The Prize aims to accelerate the global fight to find new treatments for ALS; the most common form of motor neurone disease (MND).
Following an international call for entries in June 2025, almost 100 teams from around the world competed for the opportunity to use artificial intelligence (AI) to uncover new drug targets for this devastating disease. Now, 20 multidisciplinary teams have each secured £100,000 Discovery Awards (approximately AUD$200,000 each) to fast-track their groundbreaking work.
The successful teams represent more than 70 organisations across 12 countries, including strong Australian representation from the University of Sydney, GenieUs Genomics and the University of Melbourne, alongside globally recognised institutions including King’s College London, the Paris Brain Institute, MIT, Harvard Medical School, GlaxoSmithKline and the Broad Institute.
FightMND is proud to be one of the contributors supporting this bold and innovative global prize, helping drive collaboration, accelerate discovery and create new hope for people living with MND.
Unlocking one of the world’s most powerful ALS datasets
In addition to funding, teams will gain access to one of the largest and most comprehensive ALS patient datasets ever assembled.
For the first time, researchers will be able to analyse genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data together in one integrated resource. This includes genomic sequences from 9,000 people living with ALS and multi-layer biological data from more than 2,000 cases.
By combining this unprecedented dataset with the power of AI, teams will work to identify the most promising new drug targets, helping unlock faster pathways to treatment discovery and bringing new hope to people living with MND around the world.
Driving momentum towards breakthroughs
The Longitude Prize on ALS is designed to accelerate discovery at every stage.
In 2027, ten teams will progress to the next phase of the competition and receive a further £200,000 each (approximately AUD$400,000) to strengthen the evidence behind their discoveries. In 2028, five teams will receive £500,000 each (approximately AUD$1 million) to undertake critical laboratory validation, before one final team is awarded a £1 million grand prize (approximately AUD$2 million) in early 2031.
Every step forward brings us closer to what the MND community urgently needs most: effective treatments, and ultimately, a cure for the beast that is MND.
Learn more about the 20 teams and their innovative projects at als.longitudeprize.org