what research (or clinical trials) is being done for Tay-Sachs Disease ?
The mission of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease. The NINDS is a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the leading supporter of biomedical research in the world. the NINDS and other NIH Institutes supports the Lysosomal Diseases Netowrk, which addresses some of the major challenges in the diagnosis, management, and therapy of rare diseases, including the lipid storage diseases. Additional research funded by the NINDS focuses on better understanding how neurological defects arise in lipid storage disorders and on the development of new treatments targeting disease mechanisms, including gene therapies, cell-based therapies, and pharmacological approaches. NINDS-funded research on the gangliosidoses includes using variations of magnetic resonance imaging to develop a biomarker (a sign that may indicate risk of a disease and improve diagnosis) to effectively evaluate brain biochemistry and disease progression. Other research is expanding the use of virus-delivered gene therapy seen in an animall model of Tay-Sachs disease for use in humans.