Scientists identify new protein in the neurological disorder dystonia, potential for treatment

By Greg Tammen

A collaborative discovery involving researchers in the biochemistry and molecular biophysics department may lead to the first universal treatment for dystonia, a neurological disorder that affects nearly half a million Americans.

Michal Zolkiewski, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics in the College of Arts & Sciences at Kansas State University, and Jeffrey Brodsky at the University at Pittsburgh co-led a study that focused on a mutated protein associated with early onset torsion dystonia, or EOTD, the most severe type of dystonia that typically affects adolescents before the age of 20. Dystonia causes involuntary and sustained muscle contractions that can lead to paralysis and abnormal postures.