Shelly Rae Rich,  —

Patients with different muscular-coordination conditions, or ataxia, exhibit different eye reflexes after head impulses, a finding that could help doctors determine the severity of a patient’s disease. The video head impulse tests (vHIT) that researchers used showed differences in eye movements between patients with spinocerebellar ataxias and patients with Friedreich’s…

Fibroblasts, or connective tissue cells, from Friedreich’s ataxia patients were used to identify changes in the frataxin (FXN) gene under stress, and to see how it interacts in various regulatory and biological processes. This basic genetics research, in helping to explain and understand the disease, may help to guide the development of…