Skip to content

Walk N’ Roll Season is here! Find an event near you. LEARN MORE!

National Ataxia Foundation

Research Pipeline

English

Getting ready for trials in SCA1 and SCA3 with imaging

Written by Dr. Gülin ÖzEdited by Dr. Celeste Suart Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) detects brain changes before ataxia symptoms. The list of pharmaceutical companies that turned their attention to ataxias has been steadily increasing over the last decade. This is in large part thanks to exciting developments in gene Read More…

Damage to DNA is linked to neuron death in SCA7

Written By Dr. Hannah K ShorrockEdited by Dr. Celeste Suart Accumulating DNA damage without being able to repair it may lead to a cascade of negative effects in SCA7, resulting in neuronal demise and death. Why do neurons in the cerebellum degenerate in spinocerebellar ataxia type 7? If scientists can Read More…

Snapshot: What is a Meta-Analysis?

Meta-analysis refers to a research process. You might think of it as a ‘Cliff’s Notes’ summary that compiles, evaluates, and synthesizes all of the individual research reports that were completed by the others. Using statistics, a meta-analysis synthesizes the findings of multiple similar scientific studies to produce an overall result. Read More…

Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 8: Lifetime risk and repeat interruptions

Written by Dr. Hannah K ShorrockEdited by Dr. Larissa Nitschke Differences in the lifetime risk of developing SCA8 are associated with the presence of interruptions in the ATXN8 repeat expansion. In most spinocerebellar ataxias caused by repeat expansions, everyone who carries a repeat expansion above a certain threshold will develop Read More…

Snapshot: What is the Cerebral Cortex?

The cortex has many folds, just like how an origami flower has many folds. This helps increase the brain surface area by tightly packing in neurons. “Origami Lotus Flowers” by Dominic’s pics is licensed under CC BY 2.0. The cerebral cortex, also called “the cortex,” is a highly organized layer of tissue that Read More…

Snapshot: What is Drosophila melanogaster?

Drosophila melanogaster is the scientific name of the common fruit fly. Yes, the ones flying around your green bin on a hot summer day. You may be surprised to learn that it is a commonly used model organism in biomedical research and has made significant contributions to many fields of Read More…

Spotlight: The Lim Laboratory

Picture of the Lim lab taken in May 2022. Left to right: Chris Lee, Benjamin Sanders, Kimberly Luttik, Dr. Janghoo Lim, Dr. Neha Gogia, Luhan Ni, Ashley Owens, Victor Olmos Principal Investigator: Janghoo Lim, PhD Location: Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA Year Founded: 2010 What disease areas do you Read More…

Translate »

Join the Ataxia community today!

Become a free member for exclusive content from NAF.