Story highlights The ALS Association has discovered 3 new genes that will help identify new treatment

Celebrities like Mark Zuckerberg, Justin Timberlake and Oprah all took part in the challenge

(CNN) Throwback to 2014, the year of the Ellen DeGeneres Oscar selfie, Pharrell's giant hat, and the Ice Bucket Challenge. These fads "broke the internet" (a phrase also coined in 2014) dominating social media feeds across the globe.

But one of these viral pop culture moments is even more relevant today.

The campaign that encouraged millions of people to dump buckets of ice-cold water over their heads raised enough money to help make an important research breakthrough, the ALS Association announced Monday.

The massive, socially-driven fund raising push saw 17 million people posting videos online and a slew of celebrities from Bill Gates to Steph Curry getting soaked to raise awareness for ALS, also called Lou Gehrig's disease.

The disease causes nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to gradually deteriorate. Within two to five years of diagnosis, patients lose their ability to breathe, leading to their death.

Read More