CAPTURE (Comprehensive Analysis Platform To Understand, Remedy, and Eliminate) ALS is a Canadian platform that unites patients, physicians and researchers in academia and industry to study ALS.
The initiative provides the systems and tools necessary to collect and analyze whole genome sequences, proteins, gene expression, epigenetics, and biochemical metabolites, allowing researchers to obtain a biological fingerprint for each person living with ALS.
It is crucial to better understand the causes of ALS in order to develop personalized medicine and treatments. CAPTURE ALS provides the opportunity to massively accelerate the development of effective treatments for the disease.
As an open science study, CAPTURE ALS will openly share results and data with other worldwide ALS initiatives, supporting a major role for Canadians in the global effort to understand and treat ALS.
The ALS Canada Research Program is a proud supporter of CAPTURE ALS and has helped to fund the initiative.
CAPTURE ALS will combine all the data collected from patients with ALS and healthy individuals with a goal of identifying unique subtypes of ALS, providing important new data to the global study of biomarkers, and to create insights that will inform personalized medicine efforts in the future.
The main objectives of CAPTURE ALS are:
CAPTURE ALS is actively recruiting people living with ALS, their families, and control participants who can travel to clinics located near Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, or Quebec City.
Through a few visits to the study clinic to complete a series of tests, you can help contribute to this national initiative to better understand ALS.
Speak to your ALS clinician about your eligibility and if your clinic is a CAPTURE ALS center, or contact info@captureals.ca
It’s half a day that can really have an impact on our lives. It’s a small sacrifice to help lead us to finding a cure for this devastating disease.
Kris Noakes • Board of Directors Member
Research controls (healthy individuals) play a vital role in ALS research and development as comparative data. By undergoing similar exams to people living with ALS, you are contributing to reliable and impactful results to better understand the disease.
I was very grateful to be a volunteer. I got to experience clinical research up close and had the opportunity to meet some of the incredible people behind it all. It's a small contribution of time and effort that can ultimately have a huge impact on people living with ALS.
Carolina Jung • Healthy Control Volunteer
For volunteer opportunities, please contact info@captureals.ca
CAPTURE ALS prioritizes the voices of people affected by ALS, their families, friends, and communities. It has an active Participant Partner Advisory Council (PPAC) that helps shape research priorities, outreach activities, and provide important feedback and perspectives.
Participant engagement has been a priority since the beginning of the initiative. Early consultation with focus groups of people living with ALS and family members informed and shaped the funding application, including study design and CAPTURE ALS’ data sharing plan. Today, their participation ensures that the lived experience is embedded in all the research the team engages in.
To learn more about CAPTURE ALS project
The ALS Canada Research Program, of which CAPTURE ALS is a part, plays a major role in the global effort to understand and treat ALS.