ALS

I got a really unpleasant phone call from friend this week. As he hasn't made this information public, he'll remain nameless for the time being. He has ALS. Or, something very much like it; there will be some further tests to get a more precise diagnosis, but there's little question that it is a motor neuron sclerosis of some sort, most likely terminal.

Folks who remember my old blog know that I've been down this road before. My sister died of ALS a decade ago. It's a pretty helpless feeling. Of course, I can help with the mundane things that become difficult as the disease progresses. More importantly, I can just be there. But, there isn't anything I can do to fix it.

Or is there?

I'm not looking to play the hero, here, but it might not have been entirely coincidental that the day after getting this call, I attended an interesting colloquium by an UMSL prof who is doing some significant research in identifying the genetics that drives a lot of this. St. Louis is a bit of a hotbed for this sort of thing. Washington University is one of the original players in the Human Genome Project and Monsanto, while controversial, does some pretty amazing things with genetic modifications. The UMSL professor who gave the talk, Dr. Climer, is collaborating with faculty at Wash U.

The problem plays very much to my strengths. It's basically an Operations Research problem that is solved by throwing hardware at it. I've got plenty of experience with both the genre and the approach. I don't want to completely abandon my current research, but there may be an intersection that can be exploited. At any rate, it's worth at least exploring.