NAF Ataxia Research Studies Currently Underway

The National Ataxia Foundation is pleased to announce that eighteen promising ataxia research studies were funded in late December 2005 for fiscal year 2006. The Foundation's Board of Directors are very excited about the quality of these research studies in finding more answers to stop ataxia. The Foundation extents its heartfelt thank you to those who contributed to the ataxia research drive, our corporate and foundation friends, and to those individuals and families who held fund raisers. It is through your gifts which makes it possible to support these important research efforts. The following are NAF funded ataxia research studies being conducted today:

• Deranged calcium signaling in SCA 3 neurons, Ilya Bezprozvanny, PhD
• PolyQ proteins and pre-mRNA splicing, Michael D Herbert, PhD
• Function of the multifunctional protein BAG! In SCA-3 pathology, Pawel Kermer, MD
• The pathogenesis of hereditary ataxia, Arnulf H Koeppen, MD
• Genomic mouse models of spinocerebellar ataxia, Parvoneh Poorkaj Navas, BS, PhD
• Understanding Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1, Punett Opal, MD, PhD
• Web Access of the National Ataxia Database and a Pilot Epidemiologic Study, Susan L Perlman, MD
• Mutation Analysis of the KCNC3 Voltage Gated Potassium Channel in Sporadic and Familial Ataxias, Stefan M Pulst, MD
• Molecular Genetic Characterization of the spinocerebellar ataxia type 5 (SCA 5), Laura PW Ranum, PhD
• Mechanisms of ataxin-1 mediated cytotoxicity, Chih-Cheng Tsai, PhD
• Cooperative Ataxia Registry,George R Wilmot, MD, PhD
• Immune reactivity to synapsin in the ataxia associated with gluten sensitivity, Armin Alaedini, PhD
• Tools for SCA 1 Therapeutics, Kerri Carlson, PhD
• Somatic instability in the pathogenesis and treatment of Friedreich ataxia, Irene De Biase, MD, PhD
• Disease-regulated RNA interference for Spinal Ataxia Type 1 therapy, Gumei Liu, PhD
• Late Onset Ataxia Due to a CGG Repeat Expansion in the FMR1 Gene, Greg Mayeur, PhD
• Generating a conditional knockout mouse to investigate the functional necessity of MJD1, the causative gene for Spinocerebellar Ataxia 3, in mammals, Sokal V Todi, PhD
• Experimental Medicine and Biochemical Science, Natascia Venture, MD, PhD