Written by Celeste Suart
Edited by Dr. Hayley McLoughlin
The first-ever International Congress for Ataxia Research is starting today! Want to learn more about what is happening at the meeting? This week, SCAsource and the National Ataxia Foundation will be posting Conference Previews of the sessions at ICAR. These previews will give you a peek at what is scheduled to happen on each day of the conference.
This week, ataxia researchers from across the world are meeting in Dallas Texas for the first-ever International Congress for Ataxia Research (ICAR)! Due to the timing of things, not many non-researchers will be able to attend.
To keep you in the loop about what is happening, SCAsource and the National Ataxia Foundation will be posting Conference Previews about what is happening at the meeting. This is the first post in this series.
After the meeting is done, we post more detailed recaps about what happened at the conference – keep an eye out for these Conference Recaps in early December! On behalf of the ICAR Writing Team here at SCAsource, I hope you find our coverage of the conference useful. Also, please let us know if you have any feedback. This is the first ataxia research conference that SCAsource has written about, if there are ways we can improve or things you liked, please let us know.
What will be happening on the first morning?
The first morning of the International Congress for Ataxia Research has several optional events. The official start of the conference is in the afternoon. These optional events are for young investigators – namely graduate students, medical students, and early career researchers who do research on ataxia.
The International Congress for Ataxia Research has specific events just for young investigators. The goal of these events is to help young investigators build connections with other researchers and learn more about ataxia research. We hope that young investigators continue to do ataxia research, and these events are one way to connect them to the ataxia research community. All these events were planned by the trainee organizing committee, so they were made by young investigators for other young investigators.
The first event is a meet and greet. This is an informal gathering to meet other young investigators and get to know members of the trainee organizing committee. We hope this helps young investigators, some of whom have never been to an ataxia conference before, feel less alone. There will also be free snacks and coffee to encourage people to attend, since it is the first session of the day!
The second event is a mentorship panel. In this session, young investigators will hear from five famous senior ataxia researchers about their career paths. The senior researchers will share their stories of how they became ataxia researchers and answer questions from the young investigators about their journey. This is a great opportunity for young ataxia researchers to get career advice.
After the lunch break, the young investors will be joined by ataxia researchers from all career levels to officially start the International Congress for Ataxia Research! Stay tuned to learn more about what is happening at the conference through SCAsource.
Snapshot: What Are Transgenic Mouse Models?
Why do we need mouse models for disease research? Mouse models are crucial for understanding human diseases. They allow researchers to study how diseases develop and to test potential treatments Read More…
Wearable Sensors Show Daily Walking Differs from Clinic Tests for SCA Patients
Written by Yujia Li Edited by Celeste Suart, PhD Walking test in a hospital is not the same as walking at home. Wearable sensors show that real-world walking is more variable than in the hospital. We don’t usually Read More…
Moving Heals! Exercise and a TrkB Agonist Offer New Hope for SCA6
Written by Élyse Zadigue-Dubé Edited by Priscila Pereira Sena New research in SCA6 mouse models suggests boosting BDNF-TrkB signaling could change the game. Is there a world where an SCA6 Read More…
