At-home DNA kits like 23 & Me are growing in popularity, and claim to provide information about your health and ancestry. The Washington Post created an FAQ about what you can actually expect to learn – and who gets your info. These kits do not test for genetic disorders like Huntington’s disease. For more information about testing for HD, please visit HDSA’s webpage on genetic testing.

Human Biology Project Applications

Researchers from around the world are submitting proposals this week to the HDSA Human Biology Project, which funds human-centric Huntington’s disease research from around the world. Our scientific advisory board, comprised of expert HD doctors, researchers, and family representatives, will do an in-depth review of proposals and meet this fall to select promising research projects to be funded by HDSA for 1-2 years. These researchers update us on their progress via regular scientific reports. To read about currently funded work, check out the pages for our 2016 and 2017 Human Biology Fellows. 

Open Research Blog by an HDSA Berman-Topper Fellow

Dr. Rachel Harding was named the 2018 recipient of HDSA’s Berman-Topper HD Career Development Fellowship. You can read about her latest experiments on her blog, Lab Scribbles, where she writes about her work in real time. This week she’s replenishing her stocks of huntingtin protein and doing experiments to see what other proteins stick to it!