Huntington’s Disease (HD) is caused by the aggregation of a different type of proteins. Some proteins have a repeat of a single amino acid (glutamine, often abbreviated as “Q”).
These poly-Q repeats, if long enough, form aggregates which cause HD. We are studying the structure of poly-Q aggregates as well as predicting the pathway by which they form. Similar to AD, these HD studies, if successful, would be useful for rational drug design approaches as well as further insight into how HD aggregates form kinetically (hopefully paving the way for a method to stop the HD aggregate formation).
![By Jensflorian (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons](https://foldingathome.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Huntington_disease_ubiquitin-1-610x452.jpg)
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Dr. Diwakar Shukla has new results on the behavior of the HTT protein
FAH researcher Dr. Diwakar Shukla has continued work on HD. He has new results on the behavior of the HTT protein and will be presenting his results at the Annual…
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FAH researcher Dr. Veena Thomas has proposed a novel therapeutic strategy for HD
FAH researcher Dr. Veena Thomas has proposed a novel therapeutic strategy for HD and this proposal looks to be funded by NIH (as of September 22, 2010 still pending). This…
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New paper on Huntingtons
Our new paper #62: “The predicted structure of the headpiece of the Huntington protein and its implications for Huntington’s Disease.” just came out in the Journal of Molecular Biology.
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Applying the drug design methods used in Alzheimer’s to HD
We have also started to apply the drug design methods used in Alzheimer’s to HD.
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Presenting the results on HD at a variety of Stanford internal conferences and meetings
Prof. Pande has presented the results on HD at a variety of Stanford internal conferences and meetings. People have been excited and interested in the results.
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Collaboration with Judith Frydman’s group to computationally test a new hypothesis
Nick Kelley has been working on a new collaboration with Judith Frydman’s group to computationally test a new hypothesis for HD aggregation found in the Frydman lab.
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Submitting first paper
We are currently in the process of submitting our first paper on FAH results.
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