Dr Jasmine Donaldson is a research fellow in neurodegenerative diseases at the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology. She is a member of the esteemed Tabrizi lab, led by professor Sarah Tabrizi, in which leading research is conducted into Huntington’s disease, with an ultimate goal of reliable treatment and prevention for such a destructive condition.

Huntington’s disease, also known as Huntington’s chorea, is a neurodegenerative disease that is most frequently inherited from a parent. It is progressive, and symptoms often begin between ages 30-50, often displaying as psychiatric abnormalities first, with cognitive and hyperkinetic motor symptoms displaying later on. It is caused by a trinucleotide repeat expansion of CAG repeats in the Huntingtin gene, which encodes the huntingtin protein, causing the synthesis of a mutated protein that gradually damages neurons in crucial areas of the brain. Such an abominable disease is a horrific ordeal for families to go through, hence the Tabrizi lab and Dr Jasmine Donaldson’s research is so important.

Please join us at (location TBD) to hear all about Huntington’s disease and a potential new avenue for its prevention!

Link to primary paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124721010925?via%3Dihub