InnoCentive Challenge

FPWR is excited to announce it has launched the first PWS Research Challenge!

The challenge:  to identify insights into the mechanisms of hyperphagia in PWS and provide possible interventions/treatments.  Hyperphagia and the resulting behavior issues is one of the areas that greatly reduces the the quality of life of an individual with PWS.  By gaining a better understanding hyperphagia and possible treatments, we hope to allow people with PWS to reach their full potential.     

So what exactly is a research challenge?  Think of it as a marketplace, were a problem or issue is posted and people are encouraged to submit their solutions to try to solve the problem.  The person(s) who solves the problem is then awarded a prize.  We hope that this crowdsourcing approach (which is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community (crowd) through an open call) will accelerate research and provide new insight into PWS by allowing people from multiple disciplines and with different perspectives to look at PWS.       

For more information on Innocentive and how FPWR became involved in this exciting new challenge, read a blog by Shawn Johnson, an FPWR Board Member and father of a child with PWS.

http://fpwr.org/blog/appetite/11/12/pws-innocentive-research-challenge-live