Newswise — Ataxia is a disorder that affects coordinated movement such as walking and talking, says Albert La Spada, MD, PhD, Associate Dean for Research Development at the UC Irvine School of Medicine in Orange County, California.
Dr. La Spada recently talked with the UC Irvine School of Medicine about his lab’s research into the disorder and recent discoveries regarding therapies to treat ataxia.
His team has uncovered evidence for transcription dysregulation, perturbed bioenergetics, and altered protein quality control as contributing factors to neuron dysfunction. By reproducing molecular pathology in mice and in neurons, astrocytes, microglia, and skeletal muscle cells derived from human patient stem cells, his lab has begun to develop therapies to treat these disorders.
Bio:
Alberta LaSpada, MD, PhD, is the Associate Dean for Research Development at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. He is also Director of the UC Irvine Center for Neurotherapeutics and Vice Chair in the Departments of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine and Neurology at UCI.
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