Albert La Spada, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Washington explores a novel and uniquely human genetic disease mechanism whose discovery has revolutionized the way we think about neurons and how they function.  Huntington’s disease and spinocerebellar ataxia type 7 are two inherited neurological disorders caused by expansion of the same type of trinucleotide repeat. Genetic studies coupled with genomics technology advances have permitted us to uncover how and why neurons die in these diseases. The challenge now is to use this knowledge to develop new therapies for these diseases. From the Series:Laboratory Medicine Grand Rounds