Finding a Cure for Fragile X
With a $90,000 award from FRAXA Research Foundation, Drs. Ernest Pedapati, Christina Gross, and student Lindsay Beasley will pursue preclinical gene therapy approaches for treating Fragile X syndrome at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital.
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The NIH has just posted their draft Fragile X research strategic plan for public comment. The NIH also released bridge funding for Centers for Collaborative Research in Fragile X, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Emory University, and the University of Texas at Southwestern.
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The ROCKET study is a clinical research study that will help determine if an investigational medicine, called OV101 or gaboxadol, is safe and effective in treating behavioral characteristics commonly present in people with Fragile X syndrome (FXS). The study will test three different doses of OV101.
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On Fragile X Awareness Day, July 22, 2019, buildings, bridges, and monuments across the U.S. and Canada — including Niagara Falls — will be illuminated in FRAXA’s signature Teal to spread the word about Fragile X syndrome.
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Conducting Fragile X clinical trials of combination treatments can be a daunting task, since the number of possible combinations increases exponentially with the number of drugs and the various doses of each one. So Dr. Tranfaglia traveled to Cambridge, England, to meet with the scientists and advisors at Healx to brainstorm the best approaches to this challenge, with the aim of moving ahead as quickly as possible.
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The NeuroNext learning trial for children with Fragile X syndrome ages 3-6 is open for enrollment. This clinical trial of Novartis AFQ056 (an mGluR5 antagonist) is recruiting at 13 clinical sites across the U.S.
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FRAXA Research Foundation has awarded a $90,000 research fellowship to Dr. Tue Banke. With this award, Dr. Banke is investigating how glutamate receptors at neuronal synapses – essential building blocks of learning and memory – are impacted in Fragile X syndrome. Dr. Banke recently left Aarhus University in Denmark to continue his research first as a visiting scholar and now as an assistant professor at the University of Washington.
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FRAXA Research Foundation and the Fragile X Research Foundation of Canada have awarded a grant of $100,000 over two years to Dr. Raymond Turner at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. Dr. Turner and postdoctoral fellow Xiaoqin Zhan, PhD are attempting to reactivate a segment of FMRP to reverse symptoms of Fragile X in a mouse model of the disease to reduce abnormal behaviors.
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Dr. Stephanie Barnes has been investigating the role of NMDA receptors as a FRAXA Postdoctoral Fellow in Dr. Emily Osterweil’s laboratory at the University of Edinburgh from 2016-2018. With an additional year grant from FRAXA, she is now continuing her work to identify novel targets and test pharmacological therapies in the Fragile X mouse model at the Picower Institute at MIT with Dr. Mark Bear.
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The FRAXA Drug Validation Initiative (FRAXA-DVI) provides speedy, cost-effective, objective preclinical testing of potential new Fragile X treatments. FRAXA has funded FRAXA-DVI for $50,000 or more per year since 2012.
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With a $180,000 grant from FRAXA Research Foundation and the Pierce Family Fragile X Foundation, Dr. Jeannie Lee and her team at Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital have run a series of studies aimed at reactivating the gene, FMR1, which is silenced in Fragile X syndrome. Dr. Lee and colleagues have found a method using combinations of specific drugs which can spur the FMR1 gene to produce its normal protein product.
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FRAXA Research Foundation has funded a clinical trial of an investigational new drug, led by Dr. Elizabeth Berry-Kravis at the Rush Fragile X Clinic in Chicago. This trial will treat 30 adult males with Fragile X syndrome with a PDE4D allosteric inhibitor from Tetra Discovery Partners using in a crossover design, so that everyone gets active drug for part of the time and placebo for part of the time.
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Dr. Carol Wilkinson, MD PhD, and Dr. Charles Nelson, PhD, at the Labs of Cognitive Neuroscience at Boston Children’s Hospital are recruiting young boys (2-7 years) with Fragile X syndrome (FXS) to participate in a study investigating how differences in brain activity affect learning, language, and behavior in FXS.
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Metformin is commonly prescribed to control high blood sugar in type 2 diabetes. With a $50,000 grant from FRAXA Research Foundation, Dr. Artuela Çaku and Dr. Francois LePage are conducting an open-label clinical trial of metformin for children and adults with Fragile X syndrome, at the University of Sherbrooke in Canada.
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FRAXA Research Foundation has awarded a $90,000 grant to Principal Investigator Dr. Sean McBride and Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Karen Joyce, at Rowan University, to screen all 2,320 FDA-approved drugs on both mouse and fly models of Fragile X syndrome. Those drugs which show promise will be tested in more detail for potential to treat Fragile X in humans.
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FRAXA is proud to announce that one of our board members, Kathan Pierce, was recognized by the NFL’s New England Patriots and team owner Robert Kraft for her tireless volunteerism. We are grateful for Kathan’s contributions to FRAXA, and to the Patriots, who announced they are also awarding a $5,000 grant to FRAXA to support Fragile X research.
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With funding from FRAXA over 2015-2017, the Yale University team of Leonard Kaczmarek, PhD showed that the firing patterns of auditory neurons in response to repeated stimulation is severely abnormal in Fragile X mice. Based on these results, they are collaborating with the UK-based company Autifony to develop advanced compounds which may reverse these deficits.
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Tetra Discovery Partners has signed a multi-part deal that could bring it up to $160 million, plus royalties, from Shionogi & Co, Ltd, a Japanese major research-driven pharmaceutical company. Tetra currently is conducting an investigational Phase 2 study of BPN14770 in adults with Fragile X Syndrome, an indication for which BPN14770 has received Orphan Drug Designation from the US Food and Drug Administration. This clinical trial was made possible by early work with the FRAXA-DVI and over $200,000 from FRAXA.
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Meet #FriendofFRAXA Charlie! If you would like to nominate someone as a #FriendofFRAXA, simply email a photo accompanied with age, location, and a few of his or hers interests and challenges to brianne@fraxa.org. We welcome all who have been touched by Fragile X, including friends, grandparents, siblings, professionals and companions alike.
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FRAXA’s Katie Clapp learned that Fragile X, which has been an approved topic since 2010, is not on the list of approved topics for 2019 for DOD’s Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP). In order for Fragile X Research to be on the approved topics for the DOD’s PRMRP funding for next year we need your help.
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On December 8, 2018, a sold-out crowd of 250 people gathered for the 3rd Annual Hope for the Holidays Gala at the Café Escadrille in Burlington, MA, to raise funds for Fragile X research. For the third year in a row, the Pierces presented a check for $100,000 to FRAXA Research Foundation. We are truly grateful for this ongoing, generous support of our mission to find effective treatments and ultimately a cure for Fragile X.
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Caffeine is the most popular smart drug in the world. With a $90,000 grant from FRAXA Research Foundation, Alberto Martire, PhD and Antonella Borreca, PhD in Rome, Italy are investigating adenosine receptors antagonists to treat Fragile X syndrome. Compounds which are able to block adenosine receptors are commonly found in tea, chocolate, and coffee.
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Two years ago, we marshalled our courage and our possessions and set out on our personal Western Homesteading Adventure — Fragile X style. Unlike the Westward Expansion of the mid 1800’s we were not offered a plot of land to settle, but it sure felt like we were taking a huge leap of faith by packing up our life in Detroit and heading West.
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Important information about how best to contact your Member of Congress in support of Fragile X advocacy, including tips, recommendations, best practices and how to get contact info for your state senators and representatives.
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CONNECT-FX (Clinical Study of Cannabidiol (CBD) in Children and Adolescents with Fragile X) is a newly initiated multi-national, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 14-week trial, sponsored by Zynerba Pharmaceuticals. It is now enrolling patients ages 3 through 17 years with full mutation Fragile X syndrome, to evaluate the efficacy and safety of an investigational CBD gel (ZYN002).
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