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DSRTF Awards New Innovation Research Grant for more than $110,000 to Drs. Lynn Nadel and Jamie Edgin, University of Arizona, to Correlate Genetic, Environmental and Sleep Factors to Variability in Cognitive Impairment in Individuals with Down Syndrome

The Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Foundation (DSRTF) has announced the award and funding for a new Innovation Research Grant, totaling $113,719, to Lynn Nadel, Ph.D., Regent’s Professor, and Jamie Edgin, Ph.D., Research Associate, in the Department of Psychology, University of Arizona.  The new grant is part of the latest DSRTF research initiative targeting expansion of the Foundation’s strategy to stimulate and facilitate the most promising biomedical research.  One of our primary goals for DSRTF-funded research is to accelerate development of treatments to significantly improve cognition, including memory, learning and speech, for children and adults with Down syndrome.

This new DSRTF Innovation Research Grant will allow Drs. Nadel and Edgin to further define the considerable heterogeneity in cognitive outcomes in Down syndrome. Their long-term goal is to uncover the factors that lead to variation in the cognitive characteristics (phenotype) of Down syndrome. In examining the factors relating to variation in cognitive function, they focus on the function of three specific brain regions, the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and cerebellum. They believe these brain systems are central to the cognitive difficulties experienced by those with Down syndrome, because they are critical to everyday tasks such as attention, decision-making, and memory. Through neuropsychological methods Drs. Nadel and Edgin can establish a “window” into the functioning of these brain systems by measuring learning and behavior.   They are establishing the best battery of tests, among the first such tests specific for individuals with Down syndrome, to assess the function of these brain systems, and will use this test battery in a cohort of children (ages 4-18 years) with Down syndrome to be followed longitudinally to determine development in these domains as well as the factors that influence cognitive variability.  They initially intend to focus on genetic and environmental factors influencing the variability in cognitive outcomes.  Drs. Nadel and Edgin will also study the impact of sleep problems on cognitive outcome. Identifying the factors influencing the variability in cognitive outcomes may be central to the formulation and development of successful treatments for cognitive difficulties in DS, including the identification of potential new therapeutic targets, and importantly, effective protocols for clinical trials.

“To effectively speed the development and delivery of new therapies requires targeted funding to address rate-limiting steps and emergent ‘roadblocks’ throughout the drug discovery and development process pipeline,” says Dr. Michael Harpold, DSRTF Chief Executive Officer.  “This new DSRTF Innovation Research Grant supporting Drs. Nadel and Edgin represents an important example because the research has significant potential to impact the earlier discovery phase, to identify new potential therapeutic targets, as well as the later, critically important translational development phases, requiring specific cognitive testing during clinical trials to determine drug efficacy in improving cognition in individuals with Down syndrome.”

DSRTF has become the largest non-governmental funding source for Down syndrome biomedical research. Since its founding in 2004, DSRTF has generated more than $4 million to fund and support major new results-driven research programs.  This has led to ‘unprecedented’ progress in identifying new potential therapeutic/drug targets to improve cognition in individuals with Down syndrome.  The Foundation is dedicated to significantly increasing its annual research grants funding by continuing to build close partnerships with individuals and groups within the Down syndrome community and beyond.  Our hope is that these partnerships will further accelerate the development of effective new therapies to improve cognition and create new opportunities for all individuals with Down syndrome.