GRANTS FUNDED in 2008

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

2008 Funding Decisions

Hereditary Disease Foundation grants, postdoctoral fellowships and research contracts are helping identify routes to the development of cures and treatments for Huntington’s disease and other similar hereditary disorders. The HDF’s Scientific Advisory Board, comprised of world-renowned experts in genetics, neurology, neuroscience, and therapy development, approves funding for groundbreaking research. The following projects were funded in 2008:

RESEARCH GRANTS

Jocelyn Caboche
Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
Restoration of mitogen and stress-activated kinase: a new therapeutic approach to HD?

Wenzhen Duan
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Exploration of SIRT1 as a potential target for HD treatment in mouse models of Huntington’s disease.

Kenneth Hensley
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
Metabolic thioether derivatives for Huntington’s disease.

Ruth Luthi-Carter
Écoles Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
Mutant huntingtin-related changes in striatal responsiveness to BDNF and gene expression correlates of BDNF-mediated neuroprotection.

Dennis Steindler and Florian Siebzehnrubl
University of Florida
SVZ stem/progenitor cell migration and differentiation in Huntington’s disease.

Alan Tartakoff
Case Western Reserve University
Protection against low level synthesis of mutant huntingtin.

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS

2008 Milton Wexler Postdoctoral Fellowship Recipient:
Andrey Tsvetkov
Gladstone Institute, University of California, San Francisco
Mentor: Steven Finkbeiner
Metabolism of huntingtin in health and disease.

Elodie Bruel-Jungerman
University of Rochester
Mentor: Steven Goldman
Can AAV4-BDNF/Noggin induce striatal neurogenesis and delay symptoms in R6/2 HD mice?

Shulin Ju
Rosenstiel Center, Brandies University
Mentor: Gregory Petsko
Structural and functional characterization of huntingtin using yeast two hybrid and x-ray crystallography.

Erik Kvam
Wadsworth Center
Mentor: Anne Messer
A therapeutic approach for Huntington’s disease using cell-permeable intrabodies.

Antonio Valencia
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University
Mentor: Marian DiFiglia
Role of lipid rafts in the AKT-dependent survival pathway in Huntington’s disease.

RESEARCH CONTRACTS

Elizabeth D. Abercrombie and James M. Tepper
CMBN, Rutgers University
Dysfunctions of the basal ganglia circuitry in mouse models of Huntington’s disease in vivo: Dopaminergic mechanisms and implications for understanding pathophysiology and treatment.

Beverly Davidson
University of Iowa
Testing viral-encoded RNAi as a potential HD therapy.

Donald Lo
Duke University Medical Center
Collaborative studies on mechanism and drug target evaluation using a brain slice-based assay for Huntington’s disease.

Alexander Osmand
The University of Tennessee
Polyglutamine aggregation in Huntington’s disease.

Leslie M. Thompson and J. Lawrence Marsh
University of California, Irvine
Role of SUMOylation, T3 phosphorylation and altered protein interactions influenced by post-translational modification in HD pathogenesis
with
Joan S. Steffan
University of California, Irvine
The IKK complex phosphorylates Huntingtin and targets it for degradation by the proteasome and lysosome.

Ronald Wetzel
University of Pittsburgh
Characterization and manipulation of exon1 aggregate species.

X. William Yang
University of California, Los Angeles
A BACHD-genetic modifier platform for efficient testing of candidate pathogenic mechanisms in a full length mutant huntingtin mouse model.

Scott Zeitlin
University of Virginia School of Medicine
Generation of a knock-in mouse model expressing 140Q-huntingtin with a precise deletion of its proline-rich region.