Les Turner ALS Foundation Makes $500,000 Gift to Northwestern Research

Funding ensures promising new ALS therapies and vital research can continue

September 3, 2025

In response to the current federal funding crisis, the Les Turner ALS Foundation announced that it will make a $500,000 gift to support ALS research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. With a federal funding freeze on Northwestern research, this historic gift will support researchers in pursuit of a cure for the disease.

“We can’t sit idly by as years of progress in the fight against ALS are lost,” said Laura Freveletti, CEO of the Les Turner ALS Foundation. “Research at the Les Turner ALS Center at Northwestern Medicine has led to vital discoveries about the causes of ALS and therapies that are helping to slow the progression of the disease. People living with ALS and their families are looking for answers and hope – they have no time to waste.”

“We are extremely grateful for the Les Turner ALS Foundation’s critical and enduring support of Northwestern scientists,” said Eric G. Neilson, MD, vice president for medical affairs and Lewis Landsberg Dean at Feinberg. “ALS is a devastating disease for which there is no cure. Scientists at Northwestern have been working for decades on research into its root causes and on promising new drugs to treat it. This gift will ensure that our research can continue and will provide hope for families and patients impacted by this terrible disease.”

Four Feinberg labs will receive $125,000 each from the Les Turner ALS Foundation to support their research. These include the labs of Robert G. Kalb, MD, the Joan and Paul Rubschlager Professor of Neurology and Director of the Les Turner ALS Center at Northwestern Medicine; Han-Xiang Deng, MD, PhD, research professor of neurology; Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD, associate professor of neurology and of neuroscience; and Hande P. Ozdinler, PhD, associate professor of neurology.

Among the projects underway at these labs are groundbreaking investigations into the disease’s genetic causes and its cellular mechanisms, as well as an experimental drug, NU-9, which has been approved for clinical trials and shows promise in treating multiple neurodegenerative diseases including ALS and Alzheimer’s.

“The federal government must fulfill its commitments to ALS research,” said Freveletti. “The Department of Defense owes it to our nation’s veterans, who are twice as likely to be diagnosed with ALS. The NIH owes it to every person who has seen or experienced this terrible disease. We can’t replace all of the funding that has been frozen. But we’re going to do everything in our power to help.”

Since 1979, the Les Turner ALS Foundation has supported ALS research at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. This gift comes in addition to more than $1 million in ALS research grants and clinic and endowment support that the Foundation provides annually.

“This gift is a lifeline to our researchers, our talented doctoral students and our dedicated research staff,” Dr. Kalb said. “Many important insights and transformative discoveries have come from Les Turner ALS Center laboratories. The momentum in ALS research is tremendously exciting, and this gift will help to keep that going.”