New Initiative Sets Its Eye on a Cure

The Hereditary Disease Foundation, whose president is a P&S faculty member, has launched the Cure Huntington's Disease Initiative (CHDI). CHDI's efforts will be targeted toward the acceleration of progress from research to therapy for Huntington's disease, an illness for which no cure exists. This summer, Dr. Nancy S. Wexler, the Higgins Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at P&S and president of the Hereditary Disease Foundation, announced the launch of CHDI.

According to Dr. Wexler, CHDI grew out of the conviction that enough is known about Huntington's disease and similar disorders to start exploring avenues that could lead to practical drug therapy. "The idea is to go around the world, find the best researchers working in the area of genetics, Huntington's disease, and related areas and push to the next step in finding a cure," she says. Without a doubt, she adds, many of those who are eligible to join forces with CHDI are researchers at Columbia.

In 1993, Dr. Wexler helped lead an international collaborative effort that identified the gene that causes Huntington's. Her study of an exceptionally large family with Huntington's disease in a remote region of Venezuela yielded the most critical information leading to the discovery of the gene. Dr. Wexler hopes that given the information now known about Huntington's along with the hundreds of possibly useful compounds already in existence, a cure is well within reach, although a great deal of work is still required. "The philosophy behind the cure initiative is to find the flag that might mark a potentially therapeutic treatment," she says. Those involved in the initiative are particularly looking for cell-based assays--simple changes in a cell that could rapidly indicate a drug's effect and enable screening of potential therapeutic compounds.

How will CHDI bring about a cure for Huntington's? Through a substantial anonymous gift to the Hereditary Disease Foundation, the organization is able to provide financial support for promising projects in all areas of research related to Huntington's disease in the form of grants, postdoctoral fellowships, contracts, and interdisciplinary workshops. Dr. Ethan Signer, a pioneer in molecular genetic technology and professor emeritus at MIT, has been named executive director of CHDI. Applications for funding and further information on the Cure Huntington's Disease Initiative are available by calling Dr. Wexler at (212) 543-5650 or (212) 543-5667 or faxing (212) 543-6002.