WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES RESEARCH CENTER

 描述（由申请人提供）：过去十年的智力和发育障碍（IDD）研究的显著特点是在理解IDD遗传易感性的性质和复杂性方面取得了快速进展，但遗传发现尚未实现更有效干预的承诺，即使是单基因IDD综合征。下一代研究的当务之急是利用关于缺碘症病因的知识（遗传和环境），并将其转化为对尽可能多的受影响个人和家庭的影响更大的干预措施。在圣路易斯华盛顿大学的IDDRC第二周期中，（IDDRC@WUSTL），我们为这一努力做出贡献的策略保留了我们中心最初对新生儿大脑白色损伤特征的关注，但扩展了核心活动的范围，以促进全面的方法来理解和预防细胞，突触，电路，和行为，并带来了WUSTL在基因组学，行为/认知神经科学和临床转化科学方面的主要优势。 我们中心的总体目标如下：（1）通过维持一个创新的核心结构，吸引和支持合格的合作研究人员，并与其他美国IDDRCs的互补核心设施协同互动，促进对IDDs发病机制和治疗的高素质，转化研究。我们建议支持一个行政核心，一个发育神经影像核心，一个模型系统核心（包括IDD动物和细胞模型的能力和专业知识）和一个临床转化核心。(2)在碘缺乏病研究的前沿领域培养跨学科科学活动的节点，这对于产生更有效的治疗和预防干预至关重要，涉及4个主要主题：（i）预防早产及其神经发育后果;（ii）阐明稳健的中间DD表型（作为致病过程的标志、早期干预的目标和治疗反应的指标）;（iii）对发育中的人类大脑进行深入的表征，以及（iv）阐明碘缺乏病发病机制的功能基因组方法。(3)进行一个标志性的研究项目，代表了一个大胆的，关键的一步，对更高的影响干预IDD，利用我们的IDDRC的核心结构和WUSTL的机构优势，并体现了我们的IDDRC促进跨学科研究的方式。我们的项目旨在阐明自闭症谱系障碍遗传风险的性别特异性调节表达的机制，在细胞，大脑和行为的相应水平。一个目标是确定补偿机制的基础上的弹性在女性中的ASD影响的家庭，为了概括这些机制的新的干预措施，这将是重大的相关性，大部分的人口的个人风险或受家族性自闭症综合征。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The last decade of research in intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) has been notably characterized by rapid advances in understanding the nature and complexity of inherited susceptibilities to IDD, but genetic discovery has not yet fulfilled the promise of more effective intervention, even for monogenic IDD syndromes. It is the immediate priority of a next generation of research to capitalize upon knowledge about causation in IDD (both genetic and environmental) and translate it into higher-impact intervention for as many individuals and families affected as possible. In the second cycle of the IDDRC at Washington University in St. Louis (IDDRC@WUSTL), our strategy for contributing to this effort preserves our Center's original focus on characterization of white matter injury to the newborn brain, but extends the scope of Core activity to facilitate a comprehensive approach to understanding and preventing developmental disorders of neural connectivity at the respective levels of cell, synapse, circuit, and behavior, and brings on line major strengths of WUSTL in genomics, behavioral/cognitive neuroscience, and clinical-translational science. The overarching goals of our Center are as follows: (1) To facilitate high-caliber, translational research on the pathogenesis and treatment of IDDs by sustaining an innovative Core structure that attracts and supports qualified, collaborative investigators, and interacts synergistically with complementary Core facilities of other U.S. IDDRCs. We propose to support an Administrative Core, a Developmental Neuroimaging Core, a Model Systems Core (encompassing capacity and expertise for both animal and cellular models of IDD), and a Clinical Translational Core. (2) To cultivate nodes of interdisciplinary scientific activity in frotiers of IDD research which are critical for the derivation of higher-impact treatment and preventive intervention, across 4 major themes: (i) The prevention of prematurity and its neurodevelopmental consequences; (ii) The elucidation of robust intermediate DD phenotypes (as markers of pathogenic processes, targets of early intervention, and indices of response to treatment); (iii) In-depth characterization of the developing human brain, and (iv) Functional genomic approaches to elucidating convergent mechanisms of IDD pathogenesis. (3) To conduct a signature research project that represents a bold, critical step toward higher-impact intervention for IDD, capitalizes upon both the Core structure of our IDDRC and institutional strengths at WUSTL, and epitomizes the manner in which our IDDRC facilitates trans-disciplinary research. Our project is designed to elucidate mechanisms of sex-specific modulation-of-expression of inherited risk for autism spectrum disorders, at the respective levels of cell, brain, and behavior. A goal is to identify compensatory mechanisms underlying resilience among females in ASD-affected families, for the purpose of recapitulating those mechanisms in novel interventions which would be of major relevance to a large proportion of the population of individuals at risk or affected by familial autistic syndromes.