The funds raised from the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge have actually made a big difference to the research being done for Lou Gehrig's disease.

John Hopkins scientists have been able to make a minor breakthrough in their research about the disease. Philip Wong, the professor of pathology at the John Hopkins school of medicine, told The Washington Post that the 220 million dollars from the challenge have gone very long way in helping his team in their research, adding that the money came at a "critical time," when they "needed it."

"Without it, we wouldn't have been able to come out with the studies as quickly as we did," said Wong. "The funding from the ice bucket is just a component of the whole-in part, it facilitated our effort."

The big step forward for the researchers has to do with knowing more about the protein called TDP-43 and whether the clumps of the protein found in the brain of the patients were a cause or effect of the disease.

According to the The Post, ALS afflicts about 15,000 people in America right now, and has no known cure. The terminal illness claims the lives of the diseased in a matter of two to five years from the time of diagnosis. According to the Centers for Disease Control, around 7,000 Americans die of ALS every year.

Watch the John Hopkins researchers announce their breakthrough :

Tags: Ice Bucket Challenge ALS