Anis Contractor, PhD, Principal Investigator

Diya Zhang, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow
Northwestern University
FRAXA Awards:
  $55,000 in 2005

by Katie Clapp, FRAXA

In Fragile X mice (and presumably also in humans with Fragile X), there are fewer AMPA receptors at the surface of neurons, which means that those neurons cannot receive some signals from neighboring cells as efficiently as normal cells. AMPA receptors are the targets of the new generation of Ampakine drugs now being tested by another FRAXA grantee, Dr. Julie Lauterborn, at UC Irvine. Dr. Contractor aims to restore normal function to Fragile X mice by using specially engineered AMPA receptors which function at a higher-than-normal rate.