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Coming soon from the 2013 Huntington's Disease World Congress: Buzzilia!

Jeff Carroll and Ed Wild will be reporting on the hottest science news from the 2013 World Congress on Huntington’s Disease in Rio de Janeiro, from Sunday 15th to Wednesday 18th September, in a special feature we’re calling Buzzilia!

The World Congress on Huntington’s Disease

The World Congress on Huntington’s Disease is the biggest regular meeting of people affected by Huntington’s disease, family members, friends, carers, scientists and health professionals. This year, for the first time ever, it’s being held in Latin America – in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

South American families, especially those in Venezuela, were crucial to the discovery of the genetic cause of HD and the disease remains more common there than elsewhere. In recent years, great strides have been made in Latin America for HD-affected people – including the establishment of the South American HD Network, the Red Latino-Americana de Huntington (RLAH) and a big upsurge in research activity. So it’s great to see the World Congress head there for the first time.

The HD World Congress is a unique opportunity for the global Huntington’s disease community to come together and for people to learn from each other and share news, progress and excitement.

For family members, it’s a great opportunity to hear directly about the latest progress towards treatments for HD, to meet scientists who are working on HD, and to find out what’s working, what’s not and what might be around the corner. Chat to your favorite researcher and thank them – or tell them to hurry up!

For scientists and care professionals, it’s a valuable time to get to know HD family members and hear about their lives. It is incredibly motivating for scientists to meet the people their work is trying to help.

Announcing … Buzzilia!

We’re excited to announce that your HDBuzz editors-in-chief, Dr Jeff Carroll and Dr Ed Wild, will be presenting a nightly feature at the World Congress. In keeping with a now-established tradition of terrible puns – remember Oz Buzz and EuroBuzz? – we’re calling this year’s coverage Buzzilia!

Buzzilia will bring you all the hottest science news from the World Congress, with the HDBuzz ethos: the latest research news – brought to you by scientists – in plain language – for the global HD community.

We’ll be joined by special guests for interviews, news reports and some more light-hearted features that will inform and entertain.

Buzzilia is supported by the World Congress Organizing Committee and our funding partners.

Of course, not everyone can make it to Rio. So to emphasize the truly global nature of the HD Community, we’ll again be using internet and social media to connect with the hundreds of thousands of HD-affected people around the globe.

We’ll be posting news updates every day of the Congress at HDBuzz.net, and full video of our coverage online shortly afterwards. But if you don’t want to miss a thing, follow HDBuzzFeed on Twitter.

We look forward to seeing you in Rio, or having you join us online for a week of exciting news updates from the World Congress.

Latest Research Articles

The director’s cut: how CAG repeats change the editing of genetic messages

Published date: 26 March, 2024

Long repetitive sequences of C-A-G letters in the DNA code are associated with at least 12 genetic diseases, including Huntington’s disease (HD). A group of scientists in Massachusetts, USA, have recently developed a new genetic strategy to study how CAG repeats can lead to harmful proteins being made in cells, causing cells to become unhealthy. ... Read more

Understanding expansions at the single cell level

Published date: 12 March, 2024

In two recent studies, researchers looked at how different parts of the brain are affected by CAG expansions in Huntington’s disease (HD) at the level of individual brain cells. The scientists looked at post-mortem brains from people with and without HD to track molecular changes in different brain regions called the cortex and striatum. These ... Read more

Huntington's Disease Therapeutics Conference 2024 – Day 3

Published date: 7 March, 2024

HDBuzz is back for the last day of the CHDI HD Therapeutics Conference: Thursday February 29th in Palm Springs, California. This article summarizes our real-time updates of the conference in community-friendly language. From genes to medicines The morning session will focus on how human genetics is driving the development of therapeutics. “Genetic modifiers” are genes ... Read more

Huntington's Disease Therapeutics Conference 2024 – Day 2

Published date: 6 March, 2024

HDBuzz is back for Day 2 of the CHDI HD Therapeutics Conference: Wednesday February 28th in Palm Springs, California. This article summarizes our real-time updates of the conference in community-friendly language. It’s a brain disease This morning’s session is titled “It’s a brain disease” and will feature talks about BRAINSSSS! HD scientists are a bit ... Read more

Huntington's Disease Therapeutics Conference 2024 – Day 1

Published date: 5 March, 2024

The HDBuzz team recently convened in Palm Springs, California, along with hundreds of other scientists from all over the globe, for the 19th Annual HD Therapeutics Conference, hosted by the HD research foundation CHDI. From Tuesday February 27th through Thursday February 29th, we live-tweeted dozens of scientific talks by world experts in Huntington’s disease research, ... Read more

CRISPR-based drugs: one giant leap for mankind

Published date: 14 February, 2024

You’ve likely heard of CRISPR. By now, you also may have heard that CRISPR has been used to produce a revolutionary new treatment for Sickle Cell Disease. Just 4 years after the Nobel Prize for the discovery of CRISPR was awarded, we have an approved treatment using this technology. This may have you wondering if ... Read more