IU to receive $1.2 million for Huntington's disease research

IU scientists will receive a $1.2 million, four-year grant to continue their study of Huntington's disease.

The National Institutes of Health approved the grant that will allow IU structural biologist Joel Ybe and IU chemist David Giedroc to characterize the flexibility of HIP1, a Huntingtin-interacting protien, by using nuclear magnetic resonance techniques, according to an IU press release.

"The successful completion of our upcoming studies will give us an unprecedented atomic-level understanding of HIP1 function in cellular trafficking and my hope is that they will inform and stimulate many areas of Huntington's disease research," Ybe said in the press release.

Huntington's disease is a hereditary disorder in which large numbers of nerve cells die. About 15,000 people in the U.S. have the disease, and despite struggles to understand the disease, there is currently no cure, according to the press release.

Ybe said by understanding how HIP1 binds with the protein interactor HIPPI, scientists could find a way to disrupt the binding, which could possible prevent Huntington's disease from progessing.