Nancy S. Wexler Young Investigator Prize

Osama Al-Dalahmah, MD, DPhil, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, receives the inaugural Nancy S. Wexler Young Investigator Prize for his project entitled, “Studying Huntington’s disease astrocytes in different parts of the brain: A regional study of the landscape of gene expression at the single cell level.”

Dr. Al-Dalahmah aims to discover ways to increase the brain’s ability to protect itself from damage in Huntington’s disease by studying the differences in gene expression between vulnerable brain areas that are severely affected in HD and more resilient regions. His emphasis is on astrocytes – the major support cells in the brain that nurture neurons and ensure their functioning. HD changes astrocytes in several ways – some may be beneficial and some deleterious. By looking at gene expression from thousands of cells in both vulnerable and resilient brain regions in adult onset and juvenile onset HD, Dr. Al-Dalahmah seeks to determine how astrocytes respond to damage caused by HD. This knowledge will provide insight into the earliest gene expression changes in HD. Knowing how to adapt the brain’s capacity to protect itself from the damage dealt to it by HD is critical for the development of new therapies.