NIH Investigator Carolyn Beebe Smith, PhD, Looks to Improve Sleep in Fragile X Syndrome

Our sons with Fragile X Syndrome typically go to bed early and rise early. Sometimes they jump on us while we are sleeping at 3 a.m., excited to start their day. For heaven’s sake, why? The answer may come from Carolyn Beebe Smith, PhD, senior investigator, Section on Neuroadaptation and Protein Metabolism, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland. She is studying why children, in particularly boys, with FXS have problems sleeping.

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Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) Axis Dysregulation in Fragile X Syndrome

Carolyn-Beebe-Smith

The hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is our central stress response system. FRAXA Research Foundation awarded Dr. Carolyn B. Smith $62,000 in funding in 2005 to explore the HPA axis in Fragile X mice. The results of their study indicate that, in FVB/NJ mice, the hormonal response to and recovery from acute stress is unaltered by the lack of Fragile X mental retardation protein. Results published.

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