Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is caused by large GAA expansions in intron 1 of the frataxin gene (FXN), which lead to reduced FXN expression through a mechanism not fully understood. Understanding such mechanism is essential for the identification of novel therapies for FRDA and this can be accelerated by the development of cell models which recapitulate the genomic context of the FXN locus and allow direct comparison of normal and expanded FXN loci with rapid detection of frataxin levels.

Read More: A GAA repeat expansion reporter model of Friedreich's ataxia recapitulates the genomic context and allows rapid screening of therapeutic compounds