One such disease, spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1), is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disorder affecting 1 in 100,000 people.2 Symptoms of SCA1 include motor incoordination, dysarthria, and breathing and swallowing deficits due to degeneration of cerebellar and brainstem neurons.3 SCA1 is caused by the expansion of CAG repeats encoding the polyglutamine (polyQ) tract in ATAXIN-1 (ATXN1).4,5. This evidence concerns the gene ATXN1 and spinocerebellar ataxia type 1.