CATEGORIES: CMT Update | HNF Team

Introducing A New Scientific Advisory Board Member

by | Aug 19, 2014 | 0 comments

NLpicNadia Litterman, PhD is Collaborations Director at Collaborative Drug Discovery (CDD), where she aims to identify and develop collaborations for drug discovery using CDD’s innovative informatics technologies.  She has a long-standing interest in finding therapeutics for neuronal disorders and rare diseases, with more than 10 years of broad research experience in the areas of chemistry, cell biology, and neuroscience.

During postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Lee Rubin at Harvard University, she utilized stem cell models of the rare, genetic, early onset motor neuron disorder Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) to search for novel therapeutic strategies. She identified an opportunity for drug repurposing of an anti-cancer compound for SMA and found that this approach may be broadened for a second disease of motor neurons, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

As a National Science Foundation graduate fellow in the Pathology Department at Harvard Medical School, she led an investigation to explore biochemical processes that control protein trafficking in neurons.

Her undergraduate research in the Chemistry department at Princeton University focused on free radical toxicity as it relates to protein misfolding and neurodegeneration.

 

glossary

Learn more on this topic

Related Blog Posts

The Long Road to Diagnosis Renews Dedication to Advocacy

The Long Road to Diagnosis Renews Dedication to Advocacy

Growing up we called it “Steffi disorder.” My friends and family were as baffled as my expert neurologists. I had been diagnosed with typical Spiral Muscular Atrophy (SMA) as a toddler but never followed its progression; I never seemed to get weaker. My myriad of symptoms was distinctly different than anyone else’s I had ever met in a lifetime living in the neuromuscular community. I thought I might never find my true diagnosis, let alone others who share it with me.

A New Mouse Model for Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT2)

We were recently informed that The Jackson Laboratory (JAX, a nonprofit biomedical research institution headquartered in Bar Harbor, Maine) had taken delivery and will be distributing a newly generated CMT-related mouse model. The new model expresses mutant mitofusin 2, a mitochondrial membrane protein involved in mitochondrial fusion and regulation of vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation.

Sixth Annual Card Party Brunch

On January 23, 2015 dedicated H.E.L.P. (Help Elliot Live Proud) Fund supporters participated in the 6th Annual Card Party Brunch and Boutique at Broken Sound County Club, Boca Raton, Florida. Record numbers flocked into the picturesque country club for a day filled with gourmet food, raffles, cards and a silent auction! HNF Board member Iris Adler increased this event by 50 new faces this year!

Join the conversation

Leave a Comment

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Newsletter

Join for notifications on events, campaigns, & news