Longitude Prize on ALS encourages use of AI to find new treatments
Teams to compete over 5 years, with a total of $10 million awarded in phases
The Longitude Prize on ALS is offering a total of £7.5 million (more than $10 million) to encourage scientists to use artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up the search for new treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), The entry window closes in early December.
Over five years, teams registered for the prize will compete in three phases to find and test new molecular targets for ALS, the most common form of motor neurone disease (MND).
“Empowering some of the brightest minds across science and technology to come together, the Longitude Prize on ALS will initiate transformative change for people living with motor neurone disease,” Tanya Curry, chief executive of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, the main funder of the prize, said in a press release.
Participants get access to extensive patient dataset
The competition will run in phases over the next several years. In early 2026, 20 research teams will each receive £100,000 (about $138,000) to explore and validate AI-generated molecular targets over nine months. This will be followed by another round, lasting 12 months, where the 10 teams with the most promising results will continue to develop up to 10 targets submitted in the first stage and further narrow that list. These teams will receive £200,000 ($275,000) in 2027.
For stage 3, five teams will each get £500,000 ($688,000) in 2028 to continue their work. Over a period of two years, teams will carry out comprehensive validation of one or a very small number of targets.
A final £1 million prize will be awarded in 2031 to the team who demonstrates exceptional progress in validating one or a few molecular targets with the greatest potential to lead to a new ALS treatment.
Never before have we had the power to unlock the complexity of MND, and in particular ALS, and accelerate along the road to long-term treatments, and, I hope one day, a cure.
Throughout the process, participants will gain access to an extensive ALS patient dataset via DNANexus that’s hosted on Amazon Web Services. It incorporates contributions from Project MinE, Answer ALS, the New York Genome Center, and others.
The application window will close on Dec. 3, 2025, and the first set of winning teams will be announced in the first half of 2026. Research groups from the biotech, pharmaceutical, AI, and medical research fields are encouraged to apply.
“Never before have we had the power to unlock the complexity of MND, and in particular ALS, and accelerate along the road to long-term treatments, and, I hope one day, a cure,” said Tris Dyson, managing director of Challenge Works, which organizes the prize.
Dyson, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2023, said “the Longitude Prize on ALS makes this possible, convening the largest [dataset] of ALS patient data of its kind ever made available and rewarding researchers to use AI to identify the most promising drug targets.”
AI has potential to speed up ALS research
ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that damages nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that are responsible for controlling the body’s movements, causing muscles to weaken and stop functioning over time. This leads to difficulties with walking, speaking, swallowing, and, eventually, breathing. Despite treatments that can slow disease progression and extend survival, there’s no cure.
AI has the potential to speed up ALS research by detecting hidden patterns in complex patient data, identifying previously unknown biological pathways, and predicting which molecules or genes are most likely to influence disease progression. This means researchers can prioritize the most promising molecular targets faster and with greater precision than traditional methods.
“I hope the Longitude Prize will encourage the use of AI by researchers and scientists to gain new insights into this devastating condition and advance the search for treatments and a cure,” said Lucy Hawking, journalist and daughter of theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, late patron of the MND Association. “My father lived with MND for over 50 years, the longest-known survivor with this condition, and his great wish was that one day, a cure would be found. I’m proud to support the Longitude Prize and wish all entrants the very best,” she said.
In addition to the MND Association, the Longitude Prize on ALS is being supported by the following organizations: the Alan Davidson Foundation, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, LifeArc, FightMND, The 10,000 Brains Project, Answer ALS, and the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins University.
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