About the Speakers
Jeffrey Carroll, PhD
University of Washington
Jeff Carroll is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Washington. His scientific interest is in the understanding the systemic effects of Huntington’s Disease, especially metabolic changes, which he studies using a mouse “knock-in” model of Huntington’s disease. He also has an interest in gene silencing approaches to HD therapeutics, particularly using antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs). Jeff’s PhD and postdoctoral studies all involved using mouse models to understand basic mechanisms of HD and preclinical testing of therapeutic interventions in these models. During his PhD he trained with Michael Hayden (UBC), his postdoctoral studies were conducted under the supervision of Marcy MacDonald (MGH, Harvard Medical School). As well as conducting research, Jeff is a member of an HD family and himself carries the mutation which causes the disease.
Rachel Harding, PhD
University of Toronto, Canada
Rachel Harding is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and a Principal Investigator at the Structural Genomics Consortium. Rachel completed her undergraduate and DPhil in structural biology at the University of Oxford, before moving to the University of Toronto for her postdoctoral training. The focus of Rachel’s research is the huntingtin protein, mutated in people with Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s is a devastating, incurable, genetic, neurodegenerative disease caused by a CAG-tract expansion in the Huntingtin gene. Rachel studies the structure-function of the huntingtin protein in both its wildtype and disease forms, with a view to better understand the mechanisms of disease, as well as trying to find new avenues of therapeutic intervention.
Tamara Maiuri, PhD
McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Tamara Maiuri is a Research Associate in Dr. Ray Truant's group at McMaster University, Canada. Prior to joining the Huntington's disease field, Tamara obtained her PhD from the Medical Biophysics Department at the University of Toronto where she studied the cell biology of cancer-related genes. Her work in the Truant lab focuses on the normal biological functions of the huntingtin protein in hopes of understanding how they may be disrupted upon inheritance of the mutant huntingtin gene that causes HD.
