Dr. Gomez DNA study

-

 Dear SCA6 network members,


We need a sample of your saliva for more DNA studies.  

Please click here and email Kevin Mendoza if you can help (and have not already contacted him). 



Here’s why: 

We need your help to try to explain an important mystery in the world of SCA6.  We do not know why so many people with SCA6 have such vastly different ages of onset when they all have nearly the same repeat number in the SCA6 gene. 

Many of you participated in the first step of this goal by filling out detailed online surveys about lifestyle etc.  That part of the study looked for environmental or lifestyle factors that might have  influenced the age of onset.  That study told us only a few things about our lifestyle and health control severity, but indicated that other genetic factors, like PROTECTIVE genes likely affect how bad the ataxia will be.  

To look for the genetic factors, we need additional DNA studies beyond the gene test that diagnosed SCA6. To help out with this Part 2, we need a saliva sample from you.

The last two SCA6 webinars explained that we will be collaborating with Queen square hospital in the UK to help with their genome wide Association project. They need to collect over 1000 DNA samples from people with SCA6 to make this work. You can watch recordings of these webinars using the links below. 

Please click here and email Kevin Mendoza if you are willing to help. 


Thank you,

Dr. Christopher Gomez (sent by Terry Boyle)

Links for the recorded webinars:
Fall 2026

Summer 2026:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Yoga therapy 9/29

-
Hi Everyone, Susan is inviting our SCA6 Network group to join her AR&DG Zoom group for yoga on Monday with Shannon Reeder, a certified yoga instructor. If you are interested, please see Susan's message below. Topic: Yoga Therapy by Shannon Reedy Time:  Sep 29, 2025 03:00 PM Eastern Time  (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/2276674020?pwd=2Q5SNLyrcGDw9hp0Xt6xkvsonFeNo8.1&omn=81312156639 View meeting insights with Zoom AI Companion https://us02web.zoom.us/launch/edl?muid=08b86098-b164-41a9-b1a7-80c96fda5e76 Meeting ID: 227 667 4020 Passcode: ataxia --- One tap mobile +13017158592,,2276674020#,,,,*950030#  US ( Washington DC ) +13052241968,,2276674020#,,,,*950030#  US Join instructions https://us02web.zoom.us/meetings/81312156639/invitations?signature=amoH3Df3hmmicLFHHJtpAmlwG_MuhjsGiEDoTzeJ2kY Hi all: This  coming Monday , we will be having Shannon Reeder, a registered yoga teacher, give us an introduction of yoga therapy and s...
Read more

AR & DG Meeting Update

-
Dear SCA6 Network Members, Our next meeting with Dr. Christopher Gomez will be  on April 8 at 3 pm  hosted by Susan Stiles and the Ataxia Resources and Discussion Group (ARDG) in partnership with the SCA6 Network. The ARDG meets every Monday, but  next Monday  will be particularly special with a post-April Fool's Day joke, celebration of the ARDG 4 year anniversary, and discussion about next steps related to the recent publication by Dr. Gomez and Hannah Casey describing the findings from the SCA6 Network questionnaire. The analysis of your responses from the last survey helped answer some questions, but created some new ones.  Please also feel free to ask questions, particularly research-related ones, during the meeting. Susan will be watching the chat box  for questions. Please copy and paste the meeting link below into your calendars.  Note you may join by phone or e-mail, the time is EST and can be converted to other times with a Google s...
Read more