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Article co-authored by Marc Wold featured on the cover of Nature Genetics

magazine cover to Nature GeneticsMarc Wold co-authored an article titled “A slipped-CAG DNA-binding small molecule induces trinucleotide-repeat contractions in vivo” that was published in, and featured on the cover of, the February, 2020 issue of Nature Genetics (volume 52, issue 2, page 146).  CAG/CTG repeat sequences cause at least 17 human neurodegenerative and neuromuscular diseases, such as Huntington’s disease (HD).  The number of CAG/CTG repeats expands in affected tissues and contributes to disease onset, progression and severity. This paper describes a multi-laboratory research effort, lead by Christopher Pearson (Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto), that identified a small molecule that binds to slipped-CAG repeats and causes repeat contractions in HD patient cells and in the brains of HD model mice.  This suggests that small molecule treatments may be able to reverse the disease-causing repeat expansions.

Congratulations Dr. Wold!!!!

Date: 
Wednesday, August 12, 2020