Workshop Reports

HD2002 – Changes, Advances, and Good News (CAG)_n

Reported by Lisa J. Bain.

Abstract:

Work continues to accelerate in Huntington’s disease research. In August 2002, 350 researchers supported by the Hereditary Disease Foundation met in Cambridge, Massachusetts to discuss progress towards finding a cure for the devastating disease. Participants represented academic labs as well as government and industry, with significant collaborations among these three research arms. Research findings were presented in several areas: Drug screening with in vitro and cellular models of HD, cellular pathogenesis, biochemical and behavioral markers in mice and humans, outcome measures in drug trials, transcriptional dysregulation, organismal pathogenesis (murder/suicide, regional specificity, somatic expansion, and genetic modifiers), and new therapeutic approaches. While presentations covered a wide variety of topics, the focus on finding effective interventions pervaded the entire conference.