How the ice bucket challenge led to an ALS research breakthrough

When Bill Gates pulled on a red and white-striped cord to upturn a bucket of iced water positioned delicately over his head, the most immediate thought for many was not, perhaps, of motor neurone disease.

But the ice bucket challenge, the charity campaign that went viral in the summer of 2014 and left scores of notable persons from Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to George W. Bush and Anna Wintour shivering and drenched, has paid off in the most spectacular way.

Dismissed by some at the time as “slacktivism” - an exercise that appears to do good while achieving very little - the ice bucket challenge raised more than $115m (£88m) for motor neurone disease in a single month. Now, scientists funded with the proceeds have discovered a gene variant associated with the condition.

In the near term the NEK1 gene variant, described in the journal Nature Genetics this week, will help scientists understand how the incurable disorder, known also as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease, takes hold. Once the mechanisms are more clearly elucidated, it may steer researchers on a path towards much-needed treatments.