IDDRC December Newsletter, Happy Holidays

December 2021 | IDDRC NEWS

correction with link to Dr. Baumer's full article

As the year closes and we head into 2022, we are deeply grateful for your work and the hope that you bring to so many children with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and their families. Each of you contributes to world-class research that is improving quality of life for many, or getting us one step closer to doing so. We are honored and proud to support you through our IDDRC core services.

We wish you all a joyful holiday season and a happy new year and hope that you take time for some much-deserved self-care. From IDDRC Directors: Dr. Scott Pomeroy and Dr. Mustafa Sahin.

Can an intensive early behavioral therapy intervention improve developmental trajectories in Down syndrome?

“It’s like learning a new language. It’s a challenge, but a good challenge,” explains Darlene about the new ways she has learned to connect with Travis, her 3 year-old son with Down syndrome. Her favorite part of BCH’s JASPER Clinical Trial Program came during the “Follow his Lead week.” “I would have never thought to point at things or to look at what he’s looking at as a strategy (for connecting, as she mimics looking at some object in the sky that Travis might be seeing).”

Unfortunately, while children with Down syndrome have broad developmental delays and quite often have difficulty with challenging behaviors, there are no standardized behavioral strategies or therapies for children with Down syndrome.

Learn about Dr. Nicole Baumer's pioneering research>

Hisashi Umemori, MD, PhD is named Core Director of the Cellular Imaging Core

As many of you may have heard, Chinfei Chen, MD, PhD has decided to step down as director of the Cellualr Imaging Core to focus on her laboratory. We grateful to Chinfei for her exceptional leadership over the past 15 years - thank you!

At the same time, we are delighted to welcome Hisashi Umemori, MD, PhD, as the new Director of our Cellular Imaging Core. He will be officially assuming the reins on January 1st. More information is forthcoming: stay tuned for our January newsletter.

Events and Seminars

Talks and seminars:

Jan 10: Priva Rajasethupathy, MD, PhD | Rockefeller University | Neurobiology Seminar Series

Jan 11: Jeanne Lawrence, PhD | University of Massachusetts Medical School | RSZ TNC Seminar Series

Upcoming Conferences:

Feb 24-25: The Brain Conference (United Kingdom)

April 2-7: The 2022 AAN Annual Meeting (Seattle)

Kudos and General Announcements

Chan Zuckerberg Imaging Scientists Award: Congratulations to Dr. Chinfei Chen and the Cellular Imaging Core for receiving a two-year renewal from CZI to support Asistant Director Mark Scimone, PhD. This Chan Zuckerberg award supports salary, travel and education of Imaging Scientists employed in imaging centers at non-profit universities and university-affiliated research institutes. Learn more>

Welcome to our Newest IDDRC Investigators:

Anne Arnette, PhD

Division of Developmental Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital; Member of the Faculty, Harvard Medical School

Research focus: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and related neurodevelopmental disorders.

Darius Ebrahim-Fakhari, MD, PhD

Clinical Fellow in Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital

Research Focus: Translational research in childhood-onset movement disorders.

Siddhartha Srivastava, MD

Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School

Research focus: Neurodevelopmental phenotyping, biomarker discovery, and precision medicine trials for genetic causes of neurodevelopmental disorders like intellectual disability and cerebral palsy.

Kindness quote of the month:

Kindness is like snow.

It never fails to add beauty to what it covers.