Hayden reports this week of a different candidate for the genetic defect, which may have a regulatory effect on Gusella's find, and emphasized that much more work still needs to be done.

"It's a terrific advance that represents the start of a new journey in trying to explore and explain how a particular gene causes disease," Hayden said. "The challenges are going to be very great, as we try to find the meaning of the discovery."

MIT Professor David E. Housman, another key collaborator with Gusella, said the next step is to figure out the underlying mechanism which causes the death of the brain cells.

According to Housman, scientists will utilize a number of strategies to determine the behavior of the gene in cells, including the possibility of using an animal model for the disease.

"This is it," said Housman, who teaches in the joint Harvard-MIT Health Sciences Training program. "The whole field will explode because of this discovery."

Cohen said he and Society chapter presidents are hopeful that the explosion of research activity will result in a cure.

"There's a lot of positive feeling," Cohen said. "I think it's tremendously hopeful in the long term.