BAARC quick facts
The Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center (BAARC) at the University of Minnesota is a comprehensive program for basic science research, clinical studies, and education in the disease of the nervous system that causes ataxia and related disorders.
Currently as many as 150,000 Americans suffer from some form of ataxia—three times the number of individuals who suffer from Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). Twenty five percent of ataxias are hereditary, a proportion that is higher than some of the other neurodegenerative diseases. To date there is no known cure.
Bob Allison may be the most identifiable casualty of ataxia. He was diagnosed after retiring from a legendary baseball career with the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins. Early efforts at finding answers about ataxia benefitted from Bob Allison’s immense dedication, and the research center that bears his name was born. On April 10, 1995, Bob Allison died in Rio Verde, Arizona, at the age of 60.
In 1990, Bob Allison helped found the Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center at the University of Minnesota. Bob’s efforts were joined by his wife Betty, sons Mark, Kirk, Kyle, former teammate Jim Kaat, and former Twins teammate and manager Frank Quilici. This group founded the Center, determined its mission and course, and both planned and implemented fundraising efforts, in cooperation with researchers at the University of Minnesota.
In 1993, Dr. Harry Orr of the University of Minnesota and Dr. Huba Zoghbi at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, identified the gene (SCA1) responsible for a hereditary form of ataxia. They also discovered that the gene has a genetic flaw, a mutation consisting of an abnormal repetition of three-letter segments of the genetic code causing a kind of typographical error in the genetic code. They further discovered that this type of mutation is common to other inherited neurological disorders as well as some cancers.
Dr. Harry Orr has also genetically engineered a mouse strain of ataxia to study how a specific gene produces a protein that kills brain cells.
For medical information
For medical information, please contact the University of Minnesota Ataxia Center.
