Kenneth Mack, MD, Ph.D., Principal Investigator
Waisman Center on Mental Retardation, University of WI
$20,000

by Katie Clapp, 1/2004

Dr. Mack's original proposal was to investigate whether and how FMRP levels are regulated in response to neuronal stimulation in vivo (in live animals). He hypothesized that sensory experience can increase FMRP in the cortex of a living animal and that, conversely, seizures decrease FMRP levels.

In November, 2003, Dr. Mack and colleagues published the following paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences:

The fragile X mental retardation protein is required for type-I metabotropic glutamate receptor-dependent translation of PSD-95
Peter K. Todd, Kenneth J. Mack, and James S. Malter
PNAS | November 25, 2003 | vol. 100 | no. 24