Livermore: Piscottys’ foundation forms new ALS research partnership

The Livermore Lab Foundation recently received $300,000 from the ALS CURE Project, a nonprofit founded by Pleasanton resident Mike Piscotty and his sons Stephen, Nick and Austin.

The new funds will support physics-based modeling at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory designed to identify the causal factors and biomarkers of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), according to LLF officials.

“The partnership between ALS CURE Project, LLNL and the Livermore Lab Foundation will bring world-class data analytics to this research initiative. There are currently no known biomarkers and very little is known about the disease,” LLF officials said.

Mike Piscotty, who works at LLNL, is spearheading the nonprofit in honor of his late wife, Gretchen, who died from ALS in 2018.

The donation check presentation, which was held last month at the Amador Valley High School baseball field under the retired jersey of Stephen Piscotty, who now plays for the Oakland A’s, featured Mike Piscotty, LLF board chair Dona Crawford and LLF Executive Director Sally Allen.