X. William Yang Laboratory

Using a conditional mouse model of Huntington’s Disease (HD), Dr. X. William Yang’s laboratory provided the first genetic evidence that pathological cell-cell interactions are critical to cortical pathogenesis in HD mice (Gu et al, Neuron 46: 433, 2005).

The background image is an electron microscopic picture of the HD mouse cortex with dark degenerating neurons.

The illustration in the center shows the pathological cortical neuronal circuitry in HD mice consisting of an inhibitory interneuron (in blue) and a pyramidal neuron (in orange).