amygdala

The 18th International Fragile X Workshop in Quebec was a great success, featuring more Fragile X research than ever before!

With a $100,000 grant from FRAXA Research Foundation, Drs. Joshua Corbin and Molly Huntsman from the Children's National Medical Center examined the role of a particular class of brain cells (inhibitory interneurons) that dampen excessive activity in the “emotional center of the brain” (the amydala). This inhibition is deficient in Fragile X, and so they are looking for ways to remedy this. This is particularly interesting to parents of children who are overly anxious and emotional. They worked with Dr. Walter Kaufmann, a clinician at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland.

With a $63,000 grant from FRAXA Research Foundation in 2006, Dr. Joseph LeDoux and his team at New York University studied the role of the amygdala in Fragile X syndrome using mouse models.

With a $110,050 grant from FRAXA Research Foundation from 2005-2016, Dr. Sumantra Chattarji at the National Center for Biological Sciences researched how the amygdala is affected by Fragile X syndrome. Results published.

FRAXA Investigator Dr. Sumatra Chattarji investigated the synaptic basis of deficient conditioned fear and its reversal in Fragile X syndrome rats. Results published.