IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - Researchers at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics received an $18 million federal grant to continue research on a rare brain disorder. They say that could lead them to ultimately finding a cure.

Dr. Peg Nopoulos, a neuroscientist with UIHC says they have been studying Huntington's disease on children that are at risk of acquiring the disease. The fatal brain disease is genetic, currently has no cure, and can affect how a person acts or thinks.

Nopoulos said the grant funding that they will receive over the next five years from the National Institutes of Health will help them complete their clinical trial for the disease, that is currently in the third phase. She said that could lead to positive results to combat the disease.

"We're looking to see if that therapy can slow progression," Nopoulos said. "The ultimate goal is if those trials are successful, then we're going to want to give it to people who are at-risk and who carry the gene but have not yet had the disease. We want to prevent it."

Nopoulos said she believes based on their research, a cure for Huntington's disease could come sooner rather than later.

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University of Iowa researchers say $18 million grant could soon lead to cure for rare brain disease - KCRG