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The future of genetic research on neurodegeneration

Nature Medicine volume 16, pages 1215–1217 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

Why, with all the progress in the field of neurodegeneration, do we still lack disease-modifying drugs that tackle the primary defect of severe cell loss? How much progress has been made toward this goal? Have we spent our time and resources wisely? And, most important, is there room for improvement? This commentary highlights several problems faced by researchers in studying the genetic etiology of neurodegenerative diseases and seeks to provide direction in overcoming some of these obstacles.

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Acknowledgements

A number of the issues identified in this commentary were discussed in a session on genetics at the Herrenhausen Symposium on Neurodegeneration with P. St. George-Hyslop, P. Heutink and B. De Strooper, with added discussion points and commentary provided by the attendees at the conference. The research in my group has been funded by the Flemish and Federal governments of Belgium, the VIB, the Institute Born-Bunge and the University of Antwerp, as well as by many national and international governmental research funding agencies and charity organizations. The main contributors, however, are the many people with neurodegenerative disease and their families that generously participate in research and the efforts of researchers to pave the way toward new therapeutics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Genetics, Christine Van Broeckhoven is at the Neurodegenerative Brain Diseases Group, VIB, Antwerpen, Belgium, and the Laboratory of Neurogenetics, Institute Born-Bunge, University of Antwerp, Antwerpen, Belgium.,

    Christine Van Broeckhoven

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Correspondence to Christine Van Broeckhoven.

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Van Broeckhoven, C. The future of genetic research on neurodegeneration. Nat Med 16, 1215–1217 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.2225

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