Bill Nye is back in his lab with NAF and Biogen—breaking down the science of Friedreich Ataxia in a new video series. WATCH NOW
Written by Dr. Judit M Perez Ortiz Edited by Dr. Maria do Carmo Costa A druggable target in Spinocerebellar Ataxia type 1 (SCA1) shows promise in treating cerebellar and non-cerebellar aspects of disease. Spinocerebellar Ataxia type 1 (SCA1) is a neurodegenerative disease that typically starts with coordination difficulties (ataxia) in Read More…
Riluzole, often sold under the trade name Rilutek, is a medication used for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). ALS is a fatal neurodegenerative disease that mainly affects neurons controlling muscle movements. The drug was approved by the FDA (1995), Health Canada (1997), and the European Commission (1996). It Read More…
Principal Investigator: Dr. Marija Cvetanovic Location: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA Year Founded: 2012 What disease areas do you research? SCA1 What models and techniques do you use? Mouse models Human stem cells Microscopy RNA Sequencing Research Focus What is your research about? The human brain is made up of many different Read More…
Written by Dr. By Marija Cvetanovic Edited by Dr. Larissa Nitschke Suart et al. show that Ataxin-1 interacts with an important DNA repair protein Ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), and that reduction of ATM improves motor phenotype in the fruit fly model of SCA1, indicating DNA repair as an important modifier Read More…
Location: University of Minnesota, MN, USA Year Research Group Founded: 2008 What disease areas do you research? Ataxia (SCA1, SCA2, SCA3, SCA6, Friedreich Ataxia) Multiple System Atrophy – Cerebellar Ataxia Huntington’s Disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Multiple Sclerosis Alzheimer’s disease Parkinson’s disease Traumatic Brain Injury Diabetes What models and techniques do you Read More…
Principal Investigator: Dr. Sheng-Han Kuo Location: Columbia University, New York, NY, United States Year Founded: 2012 What disease areas do you research? SCA1 SCA2 SCA3 SCA6 Tremor Essential Tremor What models and techniques do you use? Mouse models Post-mortem patient tissue Optogenetics Human physiology EEG (electroencephalogram) Neuromodulation Research Focus What is your Read More…
Principal Investigator: Dr. Huda Zoghbi Location: Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX, USA Year Founded: 1988 What disease areas do you research? SCA1 Rett Syndrome MeCP2 duplication syndrome Alzheimer’s disease Parkinson’s disease Brain development What models and techniques do you use? Mouse models Human cell biology Molecular biology Read More…
Neurons are the cells that serve as building blocks of the nervous system. The brain contains an enormous variety of neurons, and they all need to get a start somewhere. The process by which neurons are formed is called neurogenesis. When does neurogenesis happen? Nearly all neurogenesis occurs before the Read More…
Written by Dr. Hannah Shorrock Edited by Dr. Hayley McLoughlin Nitschke and colleagues identify a microRNA that regulates ataxin-1 levels and rescues motor deficits in a mouse model of SCA1 What if you could use systems already in place in the cell to regulate levels of toxic proteins in disease? Read More…
Written by Dr. Marija Cvetanovic Edited by Dr. Larissa Nitschke Expanded CAG repeats are the cause of Huntington’s disease (HD) and several spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs). Longer inherited CAG expansions correlate with the earlier disease onset and worse symptoms. We know from past research that these expansions are unstable and become longer Read More…
