Bill Nye the Science Guy is speaking at the 2024 Annual Ataxia Conference! Register now. LEARN MORE!
Written by Dr Hannah K Shorrock Edited by Dr Vitaliy V Bondar Measuring levels of polyQ ATXN3 proteins in cerebrospinal fluid and plasma distinguishes SCA3 patients from unaffected individuals For disease-modifying medicines or therapies to be approved for use in the clinic, the treatments must demonstrate success at meeting pre-set Read More…
Many daily tasks, such as writing or buttoning a shirt, require fine motor skills. One aspect of fine motor skills is muscle strength. In order to write, for example, you need to grip the pencil with the appropriate amount of force. Ataxia can involve a loss of control over fine Read More…
Immunofluorescence is a common laboratory technique used to see proteins in a sample through microscopy. It relies on attaching a fluorophore, a chemical compound that can release light of a certain colour, to an antibody that can recognize a specific protein of interest. Immunofluorescence is an important tool for studying Read More…
Principal Investigator: Vikram Shakkottai, MD, PhD Location: UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA Year Founded: 2010 What disease areas do you research? SCA1 SCA2 SCA3 SCA6 SCA7 What models and techniques do you use? Mouse Models Microscopy Patch-clamp electrophysiology In vivo electrophysiology Next-generation sequencing approaches (RNA-seq) Research Focus What is your Read More…
Most things about you are written in your genes: from the colour of your eyes, whether you are lactose intolerant, to if you have a higher chance of getting certain diseases. You may have heard of the popular ancestry DNA testing service that tells if you are part Chinese, part Read More…
Written by Dr. Hannah K Shorrock Edited by Dr. Hayley McLoughlin A C. elegans model of SCA3 helps to identify the serotonin receptor agonist befiradol as a potential therapeutic for SCA3 To move toward treatments for ataxia patients, it is important to understand what cellular and molecular pathways are dysfunctional Read More…
The SCAsource team is excited to announce that we are partnering with the National Ataxia Foundation (NAF) to improve our website infrastructure! As you know, SCAsource is run by a team of volunteers, mainly graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from ataxia research labs. We’re researchers, not web designers, but we’ve Read More…
Written by Carrie Sheeler Edited by Dr. Hayley McLoughlin Researchers use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to determine if brain volume can be a biomarker for SCA3 There are two goals of preclinical research. First, to understand the cause of a disease. Second, to develop treatments to stop or slow its Read More…
Written by Dr Hannah K Shorrock Edited by Dr. Maria do Carmo Costa Neurofilament light chain predicts cerebellar atrophy across multiple types of spinocerebellar ataxia A team led by Alexandra Durr at the Paris Brain Institute identified that the levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) protein are higher in SCA1, Read More…
The pole test is a common and straightforward test to assess motor coordination in mice. While ataxia might be easy to see in patients, it is not always as apparent in ataxia mouse models. Therefore, this fast and simple test is important for researchers to measure disease severity. It is Read More…
Our generous donors help us fund promising Ataxia research and offer support services to people with Ataxia. Your gift today will help us continue to deliver on our mission to improve the lives of persons affected by Ataxia.
Join for FREE today! Become a part of the community that is working together to find a cure. As a member you will receive access to the latest Ataxia news with our e-newsletter and Generations publication.
