January 24, 2013
We have seen incredible breakthroughs in HD research over the last 2 years. Dr. Simonetta Sipione was able to reverse physical HD symptoms in a mouse and Dr. Ray Truant identified a biological connection between Alzheimer’s disease and Huntington disease. Dr. Truant also discovered that the huntingtin protein bends differently in a person with the HD mutation than a person without the HD mutation. Last week, Dr. Stephen Ferguson published a paper revealing a new therapeutic target for Huntington disease that may also benefit Parkinson’s disease. All of these promising outcomes are the result of research funded by the Huntington Society of Canada and our donors. We believe our research investments will lead to treatments, and they are.
Science is moving quickly and we need to stay the pace to be sure that we are ready for clinical trials. With this in mind we were fortunate enough to receive funding from Rx&D last fall, which enabled us to bring HD clinicians and researchers from across Canada together, to share best practices and transfer knowledge between seasoned clinicians and new clinicians.
This week we have been planning our second meeting with HD clinicians and researchers. This meeting will be a conference call and even more experts will join the call to share their thoughts on:
• Strengthening the relationships between clinicians and researchers
• Transferring knowledge and sharing best practices
• Identifying mechanisms to strengthen our HD Clinical research networks in Canada
• Identifying ways to promote HD Clinical Trials in Canada
It is important to build a strong foundation for HD clinical trials in Canada. And it isn’t just about the clinicians and researchers; it is also about our HD families participating in clinical trials and research. We are working to pave the way by making information more accessible and genetic characteristics more protected, so that our community can participate in research informed and free of fear.
Together we will all make it happen. Stay tuned.