Finding more accurate ways to measure ALS progression is one of the most important challenges facing scientists today. More sensitive, objective ways of measuring how the disease is affecting people could help make clinical trials faster and more efficient. Achieving this is one of the primary goals of the ALS Research Collaborative (ARC) – a program at ALS TDI that seeks to learn more about ALS by gathering data about the disease and sharing it with researchers all over the word.

One way we do this is to collect movement data by sending people with ALS wearable accelerometers – devices that track movement much like a smart watch. By wearing these devices on each wrist and ankle, participants can generate data about how their disease is affecting their movement over time.

Recently, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital partnered with ALS TDI scientists to analyze these data and demonstrate that these devices can be used as a reliable measure of ALS progression. A paper detailing their findings titled, At-Home Wearables and Machine Learning Sensitively Capture Disease Progression in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, was published in the journal Nature.

To tell us more about this research project and what it means for people with ALS, we’re joined by Dr. Anoopum Gupta, a Neurologist at MGH and the paper’s lead author.