Elisabeth Dykens, PhD—Vanderbilt University
Startle modulation in males with fragile X syndrome

Elisabeth Dykens, PhD, Principal Investigator (2001)

FRAXA Awards:

$42,720 in 2001


Dr. Dykens received her FRAXA award while at UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute; she has since moved to Vanderbilt University.
Final Report on Dr. Dyken's Project

by Katie Clapp, FRAXA, 1/1/2004

This team found that young males with Fragile X have profound deficits in prepulse inhibition (PPI), a basic marker of sensorimotor gating that has been extensively studied in rodents. Importantly, the magnitude of the PPI impairments in the Fragile X children predicted the severity of their IQ, attention, adaptive behavior and autistic phenotypes.

Complete results were published in 2004.