Research

The Division of Neurogenetics is dedicated to a better scientific understanding of hereditary diseases of the nervous system and caring for patients and families with neurogenetic diseases. The Research endeavors of the Neurogenetics faculty can be found in the individual descriptions of their research programs. A highlight of these programs has included the discovery of numerous genetic causes of important neurogenetic diseases such as Kennedy’s Spinobulbar Muscular Atrophy, Early Onset Familial Alzheimer’s disease (Presenilin 2), Frontotemporal Dementia (tau), Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1C, and Spinocerebellar Ataxia type 14.

Research areas of interest include:

• Alzheimer’s Disease (Bird, Jayadev, and Zabetian)
• Ataxia (Bird, Garden and Chen)
• Charcot-Marie-Tooth Neuropathy (Bird and Chen)
• Frontotemporal Dementia (Bird and Jayadev)
• HIV (Garden)
• Huntington’s Disease (Bird and Jayadev)
• Muscular Dystrophy (Bird, Chamberlain, and Tapscott)
• Parkinson’s Disease (Bird and Zabetian)
• Spastic Paraplegia (Bird and Chen)
• Pediatric Neurogenetics (Hisama)