The HD View with Dr. Steven Finkbeiner

MONDAY, MAY 21 - 2012, 3:30 pm PST/6:30 pm EST Steven Finkbeiner, MD, PhD  Director, Taube-Koret Center for Huntington's Disease Research Senior Investigator and Associate Director, Gladstone Institute of neurological Disease Professor of Neurology and Physiology, University of California, San Francisco Areas of Investigation Research in his laboratory focuses on molecular mechanisms of plasticity and neurodegeneration. A long- term goal of his research is to understand how neuronal activity elicits changes in gene expression that are important for learning and memory and aims to understand how an inherited genetic mutation leads to neuronal dysfunction and degeneration in Huntington's disease (HD). Dr. Finkbeiner will be with us to give us his research updates. Ongoing Studies C-terminus of the NMDA receptor couple Ca2+influx Gene targets of the NMDA receptor Subsynaptic protein translation in learning and memory Polyglutamine expansion degeneration in neurons Ubiquitination and proteasome function in      neurodegeneration Normal function of huntingtin Predictors of neurodegeneration