Prestigious names in AI and neuroscience announced as judges of the Longitude Prize on ALS
An esteemed independent panel of global experts has been assembled to judge submissions for the Longitude Prize on ALS, a five-year, £7.5 million international challenge prize set up to incentivise the use of AI to transform drug discovery for the treatment of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), the most common form of MND (motor neurone disease).
The newly appointed judges are all leaders in their field and come from across the neuroscience, technology and pharmaceutical sectors, representing organisations including King’s College London, Johns Hopkins University, MIT, Insilico Medicine, and C-CAMP Bangalore.
The panel also includes the Chair of the Prize’s Patient Advocacy Committee, Marc Barlow, who will act as a patient spokesperson.
Applications to the Prize opened in June and remain open until 3 December 2025. In April 2026 20 teams will receive £100,000 to identify new, high-potential therapeutic targets. In May 2027 10 teams will receive a further £200,000 to build the evidence base for their proposed therapeutic targets in-silico.
Five teams will receive £500,000 in September 2028 to undertake validation of drug targets that have been identified as having the highest potential.
One winning team that presents the drug target with the strongest evidence of therapeutic potential will be awarded the £1 million prize in January 2031.
Judging the entries will be:
- Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi – Professor of Neurology and Complex Disease Genetics at King’s College London, Director of the King’s Motor Neuron Disease Care and Research Centre and Co-director of the UK MND RI (UK)
- Professor Jeffrey Rothstein MD – Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University and founder and director of the Packard Center for ALS Research (USA)
- Professor Matthew Kiernan – Chief Executive Officer and Institute Director of Neuroscience Research Australia, with expertise in neurodegenerative diseases (Australia)
- Professor Nortina Shahrizaila – Professor of Neurology at University of Malaysia, and President-Elect of PACTALS (Malaysia)
- Dr Taslim Saiyed – Director and CEO of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), accelerating research and entrepreneurship across the life sciences sector (India)
- Professor Ernest Fraenkel – Professor of Biological Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), co-directing the Center for Data-Driven Therapeutics (USA)
- Dr Petrina Kamya – Global Head of AI Platforms at Insilico Medicine, focused on advancing AI and Machine Learning technologies to streamline drug development and accelerate the time-to-market for innovative solutions (Canada)
- Professor Fabian Theis – Head of the Computational Health Center at Helmholtz Munich, and chair of the Mathematical Modeling of Biological Systems programme at the Technical University of Munich (Germany)
- Dr Jackie Hunter – Founder of OI Pharma Partners and Chief Executive Officer of Benevolent Bio, a leader in applying advanced AI to accelerate biopharma drug discovery (UK)
- Dr Lisa Broad – Vice President, Neuroscience and Managing Director of Lilly Research Labs (LRL) in the UK, leading projects to identify new therapies in neurodegenerative diseases (UK)
- Dr Vishal Gulati – Founding and Managing Partner of Recode Ventures, a specialist VC firm dedicated to investing in healthcare AI companies (UK)
- Marc Barlow – Chair of the Prize’s Patient Advocacy Committee, MND activist, and previous Head of Strategic Marketing for GE Healthcare (UK).
Tris Dyson, Managing Director at Challenge Works, said: “It is an honour to bring such an internationally renowned group of experts together to judge the Longitude Prize on ALS. This panel will play a central role in identifying the most promising approaches to drug target discovery, ensuring that the teams with the highest potential receive the support they need to help discover new treatment pathways for ALS, and in doing so unlock fresh hope for those living with ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases.”
Dr Mike Rogers, Director of Research and Innovation at the Motor Neurone Disease Association, said: “Innovation plays a vital role in tackling some of the world’s toughest challenges. That’s especially true when it comes to complex medical conditions, where technology opens up exciting possibilities for new discoveries. To really unlock that potential, we need a mix of different skills and perspectives working together. The panel of judges brought together by the Longitude Prize on ALS is a great example of that kind of collaboration, and they’ll be key in helping us move closer to finding new treatments for people living with ALS.”
Professor Ammar Al-Chalabi, Professor of Neurology and Complex Disease Genetics at King’s College London and Co-director of the UK MND RI, said: “The Longitude Prize on ALS is an exciting opportunity for innovators worldwide, providing a platform for bright minds to contribute to a growing ecosystem of AI-driven medical research. There’s no doubt that AI is transforming drug discovery; what’s exciting is that we’re only just beginning to learn of its potential, especially in the neurodegenerative disease space. It’s a privilege to be part of this judging panel, and I look forward to seeing the entries early next year.”
Marc Barlow, Chair of the Longitude Prize on ALS Patient Advocacy Committee, said: “I was diagnosed with MND in July 2023, and have been advocating for change in this space ever since. The Longitude Prize on ALS represents a beacon of hope in this quest for new and better treatments, and I am honoured to sit on the panel alongside a group of such esteemed individuals.”
The Longitude Prize on ALS is the third Longitude Prize run by Challenge Works to incentivise breakthrough solutions for some of the world’s most challenging issues. It follows the success of the Longitude Prize on AMR, which announced a winner in 2024, and the Longitude Prize on Dementia, which is due to announce a winner in the first half of 2026.
The Prize is principally funded by the Motor Neurone Disease Association and designed and delivered by Challenge Works, supported by Nesta. Additional funders include Nesta, the Alan Davidson Foundation, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, LifeArc, FightMND, The 10,000 Brains Project, Answer ALS, and The Packard Center at Johns Hopkins.
