Longitude Prize on ALS: A Challenge at the Forefront of Emerging Technology

Emerging artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies represent an exciting frontier in drug development. Researchers throughout the industry are beginning to use these tools to analyze clinical data and learn more about potential drug targets and pathways for treating diseases. At the ALS Therapy Development Institute (ALS TDI), we have utilized AI algorithms to power several important projects, including developing new tools for tracking ALS progression with voice and accelerometer recordings. 

Now, to help encourage the further advancement of innovative AI approaches to ALS, the organization Challenge Works recently announced the Longitude Prize on ALS. This program will solicit research proposals from data scientists and ALS experts around the world. Then, a panel of judges will select a winning proposal to receive a significant funding award, contributed primarily by the Motor Neuron Disease Association. 

What is the Longitude Prize on ALS?

The Longitude Prize on ALS is a £7.5 million [~$10 million] international programme to incentivise the use of AI-based approaches to transform drug discovery for the treatment of ALS.

Specifically, the Prize aims to:

• Deliver and validate new, high-potential therapeutic drug targets through the use of cutting-edge AI (or provide new evidence for known but unpublished targets).
• Curate the largest dataset of its kind in ALS and provide access to these data to prize participants, with compute power and data support.
• Build international, multi-disciplinary collaborations across AI-focused biotech, computational biologists, and ALS/neurodegenerative disease researchers.
• Raise awareness of ALS globally and campaign for better use of patient data to advance research.

The Prize is principally funded by the MND Association and designed and delivered by Challenge Works, supported by Nesta. Additional funders include Nesta, the Alan Davidson Foundation, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, LifeArc, FightMND, The 10,000 Brains Project, Answer ALS, and The Packard Center at Johns Hopkins University.

ALS TDI and the Longitude Prize: A Data Sharing Partnership

Research groups that sign up to participate in the challenge will be given access to ALS clinical data from several partner organizations to analyze using innovative AI approaches. 

To help support this global effort to advance ALS research, ALS TDI has signed on as one of these partners. We will provide access to the ARC Data Commons, allowing competitors in the challenge to utilize over ten years of data from the ALS Research Collaborative (ARC) Study, the longest-running natural history study in ALS. 

Since 2014, the ARC Study has amassed over 8.5 trillion data points from more than 1,700 participants, including people with ALS and asymptomatic carriers of ALS-related mutations. The study's rigorous and consistent data collection includes: 

• Surveys: Gathering detailed information on lifestyle, medical history, disease experience, and more. 

• Electronic Health Records (EHRs): Integrating real-world clinical data to understand disease progression within standard medical care. Not yet available in the ARC Data Commons.

• Accelerometer Movement Data: Continuously tracking motor function changes objectively over time. 

• Speech Tracking: Monitoring changes in speech patterns longitudinally, a key indicator of bulbar involvement. 

• ALSFRS-R: Regularly collected scores, providing a standardized measure of functional decline. 

• Whole Genome Sequencing: In select participants, offering insights into the genetic underpinnings of ALS. 

• Digital Biomarkers: Utilizing accelerometer and speech tracking data to develop objective, quantifiable measures of disease progression. 

Participants in the Longitude Prize on ALS will have the opportunity to analyze these data to train AI tools, with the potential to reveal unprecedented insights into the pathology of the disease.

“Advances in AI and machine learning present exciting opportunities for ALS research, as we’ve seen in our own work here at ALS TDI,” says ALS TDI CEO and Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Fernando Vieira. “I am excited to see what new technologies participants in the Longitude Prize on ALS will achieve using our ARC Study Data, and how these advancements will benefit people with ALS.”

How to Enter

Entries for the Longitudinal Prize on ALS are open from Wednesday, 25th June 2025 - Wednesday, 3rd December 2025. To learn about the Longitude Prize on ALS and how you can sign up, click here. 

What to Do Next:

• Learn more about the Longitude Prize on ALS
• Read more about the ARC Data Commons and how your organization can sign up for access
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