The Ataxia Community Comes Together in Orlando April 9–11, 2026 for the Annual Ataxia Conference! LEARN MORE
Written by Jacen Emerson Edited by Hannah Shorrock, PhD Human Imaging data reveals worsening spinal cord damage in several Ataxias that can begin before symptoms start. Why does the spinal cord matter in SCA? Rezende and colleagues recently published the most thorough study of spinal cord damage in Spinocerebellar Ataxias Read More…
Escrito por Alexandra PutkaEditado por Dr Hannah K ShorrockTraducido por Ismael Araujo-Aliaga Científicos caracterizan la progresión de las enfermedades SCA1, 2, 3 y 6, y descubren que los síntomas cambian más rápido en los primeros 10 años de la enfermedad. El diseño de ensayos clínicos para enfermedades raras como las Read More…
Written by Alexandra Putka Edited by Dr. Pragya Goel Feeling tired? You’re not alone. Fatigue is a common symptom of Spinocerebellar ataxias and affects quality of life. Spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) are characterized by various symptoms, but fatigue is not often included on this list. Fatigue is clinically defined as difficulty Read More…
Written by Alexandra Putka Edited by Dr Hannah K Shorrock Scientists characterize SCA1, 2, 3, & 6 disease progression, finding that symptoms change most rapidly in the first 10 years of the disease. Designing clinical trials for rare diseases such as spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) requires us to know the timeline Read More…
Written by Tala Ortiz Edited by Dr. Larissa Nitschke Repeat-associated non-AUG (RAN) translation in CAG repeat expansion diseases is toxic to cells and causes them to die. The Jain group found that RAN proteins and expanded RNA can be found in the same location in cells and interfere with essential Read More…
Oligodendrocytes are a type of brain cell that play a crucial role in insulating neurons to facilitate efficient transmission of electrical signals. Similar to the rubber coating on cords, oligodendrocytes wrap around axons with a cholesterol-rich myelin structure, which speeds up the transmission of electrical impulses. Each oligodendrocyte can myelinate Read More…
The nervous system is made up of two main components: the central nervous system, which consists of the brain and the spinal cord, and the peripheral nervous system, which consists of nerve cells that branch off the spinal cord and connect the central nervous system to the rest of the Read More…
Brainstem – the part that connects and acts as a communicator between our brain and our spinal cord. The brainstem itself is composed of midbrain, pons, and medulla oblangata. Even minor injuries or disruptions to this neural communication and this region can have devastating consequences. The pons is a horseshoe-shaped 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…
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…
