New insights into Down syndrome

(boston.com, November 02, 2013)

Professor Jeanne Lawrence of the University of Massachusetts Medical School showed earlier this year that her research team was able to shut down the extra copy of a chromosome that causes Down syndrome in cells in a lab dish. They are now comparing the gene activity in these cells with healthy cells. In very surprising preliminary new results, they found that the biggest magnitude changes are not in the activity of genes found on the extra chromosome; the most-affected genes are scattered on other chromosomes, suggesting that the condition may stem from the way that the extra chromosome regulates gene activity on other, normal chromosomes. Lawrence is also testing whether her technique works in living animals -and if it does, to see what effects it has on their behavior and development.