On Monday, HDSA announced a partnership with the ALS Association and Teva Pharmaceuticals on a project to help identify new drug targets for serious diseases of the nervous system, such as chronic pain, ALS, migraine, and Huntington’s disease. Teva is seeking proposals for new ways to design treatments for these and other neurological disorders through their Target Identification Challenge, and HDSA is excited to co-sponsor this endeavor and to spread the word in the HD research community. The Challenge is a way for researchers to get rewarded for great ideas and for Teva to help get them off the ground. They will focus on proposals that harness knowledge of biology and suggest a “small molecule” intervention. For example, an HD researcher might propose designing a drug to block a harmful pathway or enhance a protective one that preserves brain cells affected by HD. Read more about the challenge here.
Interview with an HDSA-supported researcher
This week, meet scientist Rocio Gomez-Pastor, whose work was supported by the HDSA Human Biology Project. With HDSA support Dr. Gomez-Pastor was able to transition from a postdoctoral position at Duke University to an Assistant Professor position at the University of Minnesota, where she will continue her work and introduce her students to HD research. Learn more about her work here and read the interview here.
Upcoming webinar, March 21st, 12-1 pm EST
HDSA hosts a research webinar series to allow scientists to share promising work directly with the HD community. Join us next week for a presentation by Dr. Edith Pfister, who is studying huntingtin-lowering strategies and will talk about how sheep can help us figure out the best ways to deliver drugs to the brain.
