Announcing the PatientsLikeMe ALS Genetics Search Engine

This month marks the 3-year anniversary of our flagship ALS community.  While there have been so many exciting milestones we’ve reached in that time, we’re always looking at ways to bring new insight to this disease.

Today, we’re announcing the launch of our Genetics Search Engine for people with ALS.  Imagine finding other patients just like you, down to the genetic level.  Patients in our ALS community can now do that.  (For patients who don’t see their genetic mutation right now, that’s alright.  They can be the first with that genetic mutation to join our community and share information about the disease.)

What does sharing genetics mean for research?  By capturing data on familial ALS patients’ known genetics (such as SOD1 A4V, SOD1 D90A, and VAPB P56S), we can learn more about the cause and effects of every kind of ALS and better our chances of advancing research and finding new treatments. Our goal in launching the Genetics Search Engine (and other upgrades like it) is to help patients find others just like them and enhance our understanding of the phenotype of each genetic mutation (i.e., different causes of ALS have faster or slower disease progression).

The Genetics Search Engine is a major step toward incorporating genetics for the PatientsLikeMe communities, and it’s an exciting one.  Give it a try and let us know what you think…

This entry was posted on April 8, 2009 at 12:37 pm and is filed under ALS, Genetics, Research, Technology. Tagged: A4V, ALS, ALS research, catherine brownstein, community, D90A mutation, FALS, familial ALS, genetic mutation, Genetics, genetics search, health 2.0, lou gehrig's disease, P56S, patients, PatientsLikeMe, SOD1, symptoms, treatments, VAPB. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Comments »

1. Where have you been all my life. Thank you keep up the good work this has possibilities of which you have not even dreamed yet. By what ever quirk of chance I landed here at just the right time to be a part, thanks for that and for not being alone anymore. Tommy

   Comment by Tommy — April 10, 2009 @ 7:38 am

2. [...] posting on the blog of PLM that discusses the launch of the new search engine states, “Today, we’re announcing the launch of our Genetics Search Engine for people [...]

   Pingback by Sharing Genes on the Social Web: PatientsLikeMe ALS Genetics Search Engine | Highlight HEALTH 2.0 — April 23, 2009 @ 7:41 pm

3. [...] with ALS are sharing their health data and experiences with patients like them.  Recently, we announced our new genetic search engine for ALS patients, designed to help members find others like them, right down to the molecular [...]

   Pingback by The Value of Openness: The PatientsLikeMe Blog » FALS Patients Like You: An Interview with Samperio — April 7, 2010 @ 1:15 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL

Leave a comment