Margarida Maia, PhD, science writer —

Margarida is a biochemist (University of Porto, Portugal) with a PhD in biomedical sciences (VIB and KULeuven, Belgium). Her main interest is science communication. She is also passionate about design and the dialogue between art and science.

Articles by Margarida Maia

Subtle speech changes may be first symptoms of Huntington’s: Study

Subtle changes in speech are present before obvious symptoms of Huntington’s disease appear, and could potentially be a quantitative biomarker for the neurodegenerative disorder, a small study found. The changes in speaking identified among Huntington’s patients were linked to age and an individual’s number of disease-causing CAG repeats —…

HDSA awards over $2M in grants to Center of Excellence network

The Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) is awarding 56 grants totaling more than $2 million to expand its Centers of Excellence network, which is dedicated to providing comprehensive care to people with Huntington’s disease. Dartmouth–Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire joins last year’s total of 55 grant-funded Centers of Excellence. The…

KINECT-HD2 Study of Oral Valbenazine for Chorea Enrolling

The Huntington Study Group is seeking 30 patients to join KINECT-HD2, an open-label study of oral valbenazine capsules for chorea, or jerky involuntary movements, in Huntington’s disease, a press release states. KINECT-HD2 is an extension study of KINECT-HD (NCT04102579), a Phase 3 clinical trial that tested…

NeuExcell, Spark to Develop Neuroregenerative Gene Therapy

NeuExcell Therapeutics has entered into a research deal with Spark Therapeutics to advance the development of a safe and effective neuroregenerative gene therapy for Huntington’s disease. Under the terms of the agreement, Spark, a member of the Roche Group, will have access to NeuExcell’s gene therapy platform…

VO659 Earns Orphan Drug Designation

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to Vico Therapeutics’ VO659, an investigational antisense oligonucleotide gene-silencing therapy for Huntington’s disease. “We are delighted that FDA has granted this orphan-drug designation,” Rupert Sandbrink, MD, PhD, chief medical officer of VICO, said in a…