Nancy S. Wexler Young Investigator Prize
This distinctive recognition, selected by the HDF Scientific Advisory Board, is presented annually to an early-career researcher whose work reflects the highest caliber of excellence, diligence, and creative thinking.
2025 Recipient
Vanessa H. Casha, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Casha is tackling a novel question in Huntington’s disease:
How do proteins in specific compartments of the cell contribute to disease?
Technological limits meant that researchers had to study RNA to get clues about proteins involved in the disease. Dr. Casha is taking a bold and more direct approach – she’s looking directly at the proteins.
Her research zeroes in on two key cell types that are hit hardest in the brain in Huntington’s disease: astrocytes and striatal neurons. Using cutting-edge tools developed in her mentor Dr. Baljit Khakh’s lab, Dr. Casha is mapping out exactly where these proteins are located – on the cell surface, inside the cell, and even within the nucleus. By creating a high-resolution “protein map” of these brain cells, she hopes to uncover which proteins are driving the disease and which could be part of the brain’s recovery process.
This kind of detailed, protein-focused research is powerful. It could change how we understand Huntington’s disease at the molecular level and open new doors to targeted therapies that treat the root of the problem.
Past Recipients
Rachel J. Harding, PhD
2024
Chiara Scaramuzzino, PhD
2023
Natalia Barbosa, PhD
2022
Sarah Hernandez, PhD
2021
