Breakthrough Prize 2026
The gene change behind ALS and dementia
Rosa Rademakers and Bryan Traynor share a 2026 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for finding the most common genetic cause of both ALS and frontotemporal dementia. Their discovery has brought genetic testing to affected families and new targets for treatments.
· Belgium and USA
On 18 April 2026, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation announced that Rosa Rademakers and Bryan Traynor share one of the three 2026 Breakthrough Prizes in Life Sciences.
Working separately, they solved a decades-old mystery. ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), the second leading cause of early-onset dementia, sometimes appear together in the same families. Over many years of international teamwork, they gathered genetic data from such families.
In 2011, both labs found the same culprit at the same time: a change in a gene called C9orf72, where a six-letter stretch of DNA is repeated hundreds to thousands of times.
Why it matters
This one change explains about a third of family cases of both diseases in European populations, and more than five percent of cases in people with no family history.
It showed that ALS and FTD, once seen as two largely separate disorders, sit on one disease spectrum. It made genetic testing possible for affected families, and at least two therapies are now in clinical trials. Both diseases are still incurable, but researchers now have promising targets for treatment.
