[OC-02] Research frontline of hereditary cerebellar ataxias

[OC-02-4] Molecular Pathology of Spinocerebellar Ataxia 10

^○Ashizawa Tetsuo¹, Karen N. McFarland² (1.Houston Methodist Research Institute, 2.University of Florida)

Dr. Tetsuo Ashizawa is Professor of Neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College at Houston Methodist Research Institute. He has chaired two neurology departments, one at UTMB in Galveston, Texas and the other at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and served as Executive Director of the McKnight Brain Institute in Gainesville. Dr. Ashizawa has been interested in clinical and basic research on diseases caused by microsatellite repeat expansions. He has established the international myotonic dystrophy consortium (IDMC), which is the world premier basic and clinical research consortium. He organized a natural history study of spinocerebellar ataxias in the Clinical Research Consortium for Spinocerebellar Ataxias (CRC-SCA). With increasing knowledge of the disease mechanism, these diseases are entering the clinical trial era, raising hopes for developing efficacious treatments. His basic science research is primarily on the RNA gain-of-function and repeat expansion in SCA10 and myotonic dystrophies.