News
Lacie Low and Samantha Myers Awarded at the Schwid Research Symposium
Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Congratulations to Lacie Low (best original research) and Samantha Myers (best podium presentation) for their awards at the Schwid Research Symposium!
Mackenzie Lab Awarded Grant From TANGO2 Research Foundation for Biomarker Discovery in TANGO2 Deficiency Disorder
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
The TANGO2 Research Foundation awarded the Mackenzie Lab at the University of Rochester and the Davidson Lab at Northwestern University a $50,000 grant to perform metabolomics studies in a C. elegans model of TANGO2 deficiency disorder. This work, which will be conducted over a one-year period, will build on exciting preliminary data that suggests that TANGO2 plays a critical role in coenzyme A homeostasis. We are excited to complete these experiments, as we believe they represent the first steps toward identifying biomarkers that might someday be used for newborn screening or as treatment-responsive endpoints in therapeutic trials.
Mackenzie Lab Represents at TANGO2 Family Conference
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Sarah Sandkuhler, Olivia Gottpalli, Madeleine Zimmerman, Madeline Ang, and Dr. Mackenzie attended the three-day TANGO2 Family Conference in Orlando, Florida. Collectively, they presented four posters and two podium presentations on topics ranging from acute care guidelines to paroxysmal movement disorders to high-throughput drug screening in nematodes. Although no one made it to Disney, a good time was had by all!
Mackenzie Lab Represents at IDMC15 Conference
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Hsin Ya Huang and Dr. Mackenzie attended the 15th International Myotonic Dystrophy Consortium (IDMC15) meeting in Saguenay, Québec, Canada. Hsin Ya presented a poster describing her work demonstrating repeat length-dependent CpG hypermethylation at the Dmpk locus in a novel knock-in mouse model of myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). Her findings suggest that increasing CTG repeat length is associated with progressive epigenetic remodeling upstream of the repeat expansion, providing new insight into mechanisms that may contribute to DM1 pathophysiology. The conference brought together clinicians, scientists, and patient advocates from around the world to share advances in DM research and foster new collaborations.