Category: Research Simplified

How could small molecule drugs help treat KIF1A-Associated Neurological Disorder? This blog post and accompanying video was created by a team of biotechnology students at Columbia University as part of a class project for the Seminar in Biotechnology taught by Dr. Lili Yamasaki. Thank you to Yanzhe Ma, Yishu Yin, Jerry Shen, Alex Jin, and Wanyun Li for volunteering your…

What are small molecule drugs? Where do they come from? How do they work? This blog post and accompanying video was created by a team of biotechnology students at Columbia University as part of a class project for the Seminar in Biotechnology taught by Dr. Lili Yamasaki. Thank you to Yanzhe Ma, Yishu Yin, Jerry…

If your family has received a diagnosis of KIF1A Associated Neurological Disorder (KAND), you’ve probably never heard of it before. That’s okay. Your doctors probably haven’t either! But the KIF1A.ORG community is here to help.

Want to learn more about KIF1A research without needing a PhD? Through Research Simplified, we collaborate with scientists to create “simplified” summaries of their research and scientific concepts that impact our community. If you have questions about this or other KIF1A-related research, contact us!

Are you interested in learning more about the history of KIF1A research? Dr. Jayne Aiken, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Holzbaur Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, summarizes the key findings (and some “controversies”) in KIF1A research, starting with the discovery of kinesin in 1985. Her presentation, “A brief history of KIF1A: From gene discovery to…

A KIF1A diagnosis can be scary, stressful and confusing. You’ve likely entered a whole new world of medical jargon and uncertainty. Complex scientific explanations about KIF1A rarely help families living with this diagnosis. We’re here to help.

Recent research on a subset of KIF1A mutations helps us understand how some KIF1A mutations can cause too much motor activity at the cellular level, leading to “uncomplicated hereditary spastic paraplegia.” KIF1A researchers Kyoko Chiba and Richard McKenney of University of California – Davis and Shinsuke Niwa of Tohoku University collaborated with KIF1A.ORG to bring…

Research Simplified with Pedro Guedes-Dias Pedro Guedes-Dias collaborated with KIF1A.ORG to explain the KIF1A research being led by him and others at Holzbaur Lab. Part of this research helps us understand why there is a great range in symptoms and severity among people affected by KIF1A-related disorders. In this edition of Research Simplified, we’ll take…

Research Simplified with Dominique Lessard Dominique Lessard collaborated with KIF1A.ORG to explain the KIF1A research being led by her and others at Berger Lab. Through this research we learn what distinguishes the KIF1A motor protein as one of the most effective at cargo transport. In this edition of Research Simplified, we’ll take Dominique’s research paper,…