Research articles

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HDBuzz is a collaboration of scientists who write Huntington’s disease research news in plain language for the global HD community. They have allowed us to retrieve their articles for the NSW ACT Huntington’s community.

Westmead HD Service

In addition to providing multi-disciplinary care to the NSW Huntington’s community, the service has been involved in local and major international research studies since its establishment at Westmead Hospital in 1995. Hundreds of volunteers have generously participated in research to better understand the disease and in the search for effective treatments.

Westmead Hospital is a HSG Credential Research Site. Professor Clement Loy is the Principal Investigator for this site.

Global research collaboration

The Huntington Study Group (HSG), is the world’s first HD cooperative therapeutic research organization. Today, HSG is a world leader in facilitating high quality clinical research trials and studies that bring us closer to finding more effective treatments for HD and reducing the burden of HD for families affected by the disease.

HSG is an organization of compassionate professionals dedicated to finding treatments that make a difference, providing rigorous care initiatives, and improving the quality of life and outcomes for HD families. How? By bringing together families, medical professionals, clinical researchers, HD advocacy groups, and sponsors to raise awareness of HD, share knowledge and best practices, and develop innovative treatments.

Words from HSG website.

How NSW contributes to research

KINECT-HD trial shows valbenazine improves involuntary movements in Huntington's disease

Published date: 14 December, 2021

Chorea – unwanted fidgety or jerky movements – is one of the most noticeable features of Huntington’s disease (HD). There are already drugs to treat chorea licensed specifically for use in HD, as well as so-called off-label treatment options. But all the existing treatments have potential downsides, so new drugs to reduce chorea could be ... Read more

“Seeing” the toxic huntingtin protein in people with HD

Published date: 8 December, 2021

Scientists have developed a tool which allows us to “see” the toxic clumps of the huntingtin protein using special scanners. People with Huntington’s disease (HD) make a toxic form of the huntingtin protein which forms clumps in cells of their bodies, which accumulate during HD progression. Tracking how these clumps form over time in people ... Read more

Updates from the EHDN Meeting 2021

Published date: 28 October, 2021

Last month, the Huntington’s disease (HD) research community, patients and other stakeholders met online at the European Huntington’s disease network (EHDN) conference. Despite the ongoing global pandemic, there is a tremendous amount of work underway in labs and clinics around the world as researchers continue to better understand HD and how we might best treat ... Read more

Real talk: Q&A with Roche about GENERATION-HD1

Published date: 28 September, 2021

At the end of day 1 of the European Huntington’s Disease Network (EHDN) conference, the HDBuzz team (minus one) sat down for a zoom chat with the team at Roche to have a frank, candid discussion about the recent halting of GENERATION-HD1, the Phase 3 clinical trial that was testing the ability of the antisense ... Read more

Another tool in the box: Creation of a molecular “dimmer switch” advances gene editing

Published date: 30 August, 2021

A team of scientists recently created an innovative genetic system where a drug taken by mouth could be used to control the action of a gene editor, like those used in CRISPR systems. This has useful applications for research studies in cells and animals, and perhaps most importantly, could lead to improvements in the safety ... Read more

Unpacking recent gene therapy press

Published date: 16 August, 2021

A recent announcement from Voyager Therapeutics outlined a shift in the company’s strategy towards an exciting new technology for gene therapy delivery. Unfortunately this also means that in the short term, they have dropped previous plans to test an HD gene therapy in people with HD. While this news is disappointing, the decision to embrace ... Read more

Does blood hold the key to testing treatments earlier in HD patients?

Published date: 4 August, 2021

Researchers at Johns Hopkins led by Wenzhen Duan have developed a non-invasive way to track progression of Huntington’s disease (HD) which could be used before patients even start showing symptoms. Using a type of brain scan called an MRI, the researchers have shown that in mouse models of HD they can accurately measure the amount ... Read more

A first for CRISPR gene editing could have wider applications for human disease

Published date: 21 July, 2021

A recent clinical trial successfully tested the safety of CRISPR gene editing to reduce the amount of a toxic protein in patients with Familial Transthyretic (TTR) Amyloidosis. Although this study is unrelated to Huntington’s disease, it’s a first for gene editing, and the results could have implications for HD and other brain disorders. CRISPR-Cas9 Clustered ... Read more

Scientists identify precisely how pridopidine works in models of Huntington’s disease

Published date: 12 June, 2021

Pridopidine is a drug developed to treat Huntington’s disease (HD) and now scientists have a clearer understanding of how it works in the body and brain. In a series of academic papers, researchers figured out that pridopidine is working by targeting a particular receptor protein called S1R. With this new understanding, the researchers believe pridopidine ... Read more

Huntington's disease therapeutics conference 2021 – Day 3

Published date: 29 April, 2021

We are back for the last day of the virtual 2021 CHDI Therapeutics conference. This article summarises our live Twitter updates on the exciting science being presented, which you can find with the hashtag #HDTC2021. The final session of the conference will provide the latest news on more Huntington’s disease clinical programs. A new way ... Read more

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Research articles

Westmead HD Service

Global research collaboration

How NSW contributes to research

KINECT-HD trial shows valbenazine improves involuntary movements in Huntington's disease

“Seeing” the toxic huntingtin protein in people with HD

Updates from the EHDN Meeting 2021

Real talk: Q&A with Roche about GENERATION-HD1

Another tool in the box: Creation of a molecular “dimmer switch” advances gene editing

Unpacking recent gene therapy press

Does blood hold the key to testing treatments earlier in HD patients?

A first for CRISPR gene editing could have wider applications for human disease

Scientists identify precisely how pridopidine works in models of Huntington’s disease

Huntington's disease therapeutics conference 2021 – Day 3

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