Lizzy Foley
COLL-118
“From the Gene to the Clinic: Developing Therapies to Modify the Course of Huntington’s disease”
On November 19, Douglass Macdonald, class of 1989, delivered a speech as part of the Science for the Greater Good series. Macdonald began his talk with a brief overview of Trinity experience, speaking fondly about his time as chemistry major. He then gave a brief overview of his life after Trinity, which includes laboratory research alongside Dr. Bruce Merrifield, leading to the development of a novel peptide antagonist of the glucagon receptor. Macdonald then continued on to earn a Ph.D. in pharmacology and experimental therapeutics from the Boston University School of Medicine. Currently, however, Macdonald serves as the Director of Drug Discovery and Development at the CHDI Foundation, which he described as a not-for-profit biopharmaceutical company with a concentration on drug advancement for Huntington’s disease.
Macdonald focused the majority of his talk on Huntington’s disease and his goal to develop effective treatments for the disorder, which is a dominantly inherited neurodegenerative disorder, presently having a prevalence of over 30,000 cases in the united states alone. In addition to the specific mechanism involved in Huntington’s, Macdonald touched upon the manifestation of further disorders as a result of the disease. Such disorders involve an individual’s movement, cognition, and emotional well-being. Fortunately, a major breakthrough has been made – the identification of the polyglutamine repeat in the huntingtin (HTT) gene as the cause of the disorder. Ultimately, it was mentioned that the CHDI Foundation has created a biomarker that has been successful for measuring such pathogenic mutation in the cerebral spinal fluid of individuals with Huntington’s disease. This is extremely beneficial for people who carry such mutation but have not yet started to exhibit the typical Huntington’s symptoms. Macdonald suggested that his goal is to develop therapies for Huntington’s that decrease the amount of mutated protein that is generated in the brains of these patients. By and large, his objective is to use such biomarker to measure treatment efficacy.
Macdonald is an excellent example of a Trinity graduate who joins discovery, development, and neuroscience research, in order to improve the quality of life for individuals. I found it inspiring to listen to a professional who is interested not only in identifying ways to better the world, but setting these ideas in motion. Later that night, after his talk, Macdonald was present at the National honor society (Nu Rho Psi) induction ceremony. Following the delivery of a short speech regarding his passion for neuroscience, Macdonald was inducted into the society that was established in 2006. As a student present, it was absolutely astonishing to be induction alongside such a well-established and influential professional.