Patricia Inácio, PhD, science writer —

Patricia holds her PhD in cell biology from the University Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, and has served as an author on several research projects and fellowships, as well as major grant applications for European agencies. She also served as a PhD student research assistant in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Columbia University, New York, for which she was awarded a Luso-American Development Foundation (FLAD) fellowship.

Articles by Patricia Inácio

Aitia and UCB team up to develop novel Huntington’s treatment

The biopharmaceutical UCB and Aitia have joined forces to accelerate the development of a novel Huntington’s disease treatment. The collaboration will harness Aitia’s artificial intelligence (AI) technology to identify new targets and therapies for Huntington’s that will be further validated using UCB’s expertise in treatment research and…

New RNA-targeting Therapy Reduces Toxic HTT Protein Buildup

Researchers have developed a new therapy that reduced the toxic buildup of the mutant huntingtin (HTT) protein — the hallmark of Huntington’s disease — in lab-grown neurons from Huntington’s patients and in a mouse model of the disease. The CRISPR-based therapy was designed to specifically target the HTT gene’s messenger…

Abnormal Red Blood Cells Found in 4 Chinese Huntington’s Patients

Abnormal red blood cells, known as acanthocytosis, were identified in four unrelated Chinese adults with Huntington’s disease — undermining researchers’ attempts to differentiate the neurodegenerative disorder from another similar genetic disease. Researchers had expected that the presence or absence of such abnormally shaped red blood cells would help…

Phase 2 Trial of Oral Therapy PTC518 Launched in US

A Phase 2 trial evaluating PTC518, an investigational treatment for Huntington’s disease, has started in the U.S., PTC Therapeutics announced. The trial, called PIVOT-HD, will run across clinical sites worldwide and is divided into two parts. First, participants will be randomly assigned to a placebo or PTC518…