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Research articles

Click on this link to read our latest research articles.

Click on this link to find out more about Huntington’s NSW ACT Research grant opportunities.

HD Buzz

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 Outreach Service

The Outreach Service is part of a multidisciplinary team of medical, nursing and allied health services which provides review, intervention, treatment, case management, counselling, support, education and management of problems and issues associated with Huntington’s for patients, their families and carers. In addition to this care, 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. They bring 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.

Enroll-HD

Enroll-HD is a clinical research platform and the world’s largest observational study for Huntington’s disease families. It is a resource for the entire HD community, including families, clinicians, researchers, advocates, and anyone else who has a connection to or an interest in HD.

Huntington’s Disease Network of Australia

The Huntington’s Disease Network of Australia (HDNA) is a project conceived by Professor Julie Stout of Monash University. Formed in 2020 to coordinate efforts that enhance care and services for HD and prepare for the advent of new HD treatments. The Map-HD Registry is for people in Australia who are affected by HD. All family members or people affected by HD are encouraged to register, whether or not they are at risk themselves.
 
 

          Huntington's Disease Network of Australia

Coming soon: HD Therapeutics Conference 2012

Published date: 21 February, 2012

An oasis of hope in the desert: the annual Huntington’s Disease Therapeutics Conference in Palm Springs, California, begins on 27th February. We’ll be bringing you live updates via Twitter and the web. An exciting time If 2011 is anything to go by, we predict that 2012 will be a big year for Huntington’s disease treatment ... Read more

New analysis suggests 'small' CAG length doesn't matter after all

Published date: 18 February, 2012

Huntington’s disease happens when one of our two copies of the HD gene is bigger than normal. The role of the smaller copy has been much debated. Now a fresh analysis of a huge data set suggests the small ‘CAG repeat length’ doesn’t influence when HD symptoms begin. What’s repeat length? When the genetic abnormality ... Read more

Special 'brain fat' injection helps HD mice

Published date: 14 February, 2012

The human brain is enriched in many different types of fat. Some of these greasy molecules are reduced in HD, and a new study demonstrates that replacing one specific type, called ganglioside GM1, leads to dramatic improvements in the behavior of HD mice. Fat molecules and the brain ‘Fat’ is a broad word with a ... Read more

HDYO! Huntington's Disease Youth Organization goes live

Published date: 10 February, 2012

A bright day dawns for young people affected by Huntington’s disease as HDYO, the Huntington’s Disease Youth Organization, is launched. Created for young people, by young people, HDYO represents nothing less than a generation of people affected by HD, standing united to fight the disease together. Growing up is hard to do Things can be ... Read more

Could mesenchymal stem cells deliver gene silencing drugs?

Published date: 31 January, 2012

Many people consider gene silencing the best candidate therapy for Huntington’s disease. A group led by Dr Jan Nolta has described a new method of getting silencing drugs into cells in a dish using modified bone marrow stem cells. Does this new approach offer benefits over existing technologies? Gene silencing Like most HD researchers, we ... Read more

Double success for huntingtin RNAi gene silencing

Published date: 24 January, 2012

Most HD researchers are pretty excited by the idea of ‘silencing’ the Huntington’s disease gene, to reduce production of the harmful huntingtin protein. Two challenges – safety and delivery – are now closer to being solved thanks to collaborative work by academic and industry researchers. We’re big fans of gene silencing. Like many Huntington’s disease ... Read more

New experiments clarify the role of SIRT1 in HD – or do they?

Published date: 12 January, 2012

Biologists are very excited about a protein called SIRT1 – activating it seems to extend life. Could activating this remarkable protein help HD? New experiments in mice suggest that SIRT1-activation might be a good target for HD drugs – but other researchers think the opposite. SIRT1, life span and controversy One of the most popular ... Read more

Bone marrow transplantation in Huntington's Disease

Published date: 4 January, 2012

Are there connections between the body’s immune system and the progression of Huntington’s disease? New evidence suggests that correcting changes in the immune system could have real impact on brain aspects of HD. Huntington’s disease as a brain disease When the brains of people who’d died of Huntington’s disease were first studied, the most striking ... Read more

2011 – a year in Huntington's disease research

Published date: 31 December, 2011

2011 was a year of big events, and the world of Huntington’s disease was no exception. From the launch of HDBuzz and the growth of the global HD community to intriguing progress in basic science and a certainty that effective treatments are closer than ever. Our 2011 review looks back – and forward. HDBuzz, year ... Read more

Gene therapy meets stem cells in liver disease success

Published date: 26 December, 2011

Gene therapy could correct spelling mistakes in our DNA, while stem cells promise transplant operations that don’t need powerful immune suppressing drugs. Scientists have now combined the two techniques in a genetic liver disease. Several challenges remain before this could work in Huntington’s disease though. Precision gene therapy Huntington’s disease is one of many conditions ... Read more