The International Congress for Ataxia Research (ICAR) 2024 took place in London from 12th – 15th November. It was organised by Ataxia UK, the National Ataxia Foundation, the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance, and the Ataxia Global Initiative.
This was the biggest ICAR yet, with 600 attendees from 32 countries, including researchers, clinicians, representatives from the pharmaceutical industry and patient organisation representatives. The congress brought together researchers from the ataxia field to share knowledge through talks, workshops, debates and poster presentations. Around 350 scientific research posters were presented and over 80 invited talks were given.
ICAR 2024 included sessions on disease mechanisms, models of the ataxias, preclinical and clinical research, showcasing many innovations in the field of ataxias, from gene therapies to new measures of ataxia progression.
Ataxia UK’s Head of Research, Julie Greenfield reflected,
‘This has been the largest ever meeting of ataxia researchers, with around 600 people attending. Ataxia UK has been proud to organise this conference alongside our colleagues at FARA, NAF and AGI’.
ICAR showcased a shift from understanding the basic science of what causes ataxias toward the many advances in clinical research into the ataxias, including Skyclarys, Nomlabofusp, Vatiquinone and GeneTAC therapies for Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), 4-aminopyradine for SCA27B, and antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) such as VO659 that target the genetic changes for SCA1, SCA3 and Huntington’s disease.
One highlight of ICAR 2024 was a discussion panel where a number of participants with ataxia, or caring for someone with ataxia, shared their experiences and perspectives on living with ataxia. The panel shared their experiences with taking part in research, from healthcare research to clinical trials, as well as the lived experience of being a parent of someone with ataxia.
Another highlight was research shared by Dr Stefan Pulst and his laboratory at the University of Utah on SCA4, the laboratory that discovered the gene that causes SCA4, which we reported on previously, and you can read about here.
Look out for more updates from ICAR in the Ataxia Magazine.
