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.