Projects Archive - Foundation for Prader-Willi Research | Resource Development

Overcoming the strong drive to overeat and obesity with negative impacts on life expectancy and life quality is of upmost and crucial importance for individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) and their families. Despite advances in understanding the genetic causes of PWS and the establishment of different mouse models that mimic some clinical false

Neuropsychological studies have detailed several cognitive deficits in Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS), among which the observation of altered social interactions, with notable difficulty in interpreting and responding to social information. The integration of the information from the face and the voice is important for our social communication as false

Deletions on chromosome 15 in the bands labeled 15q11.2-q13 on the chromosome inherited from a subject’s father cause Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). The unique nature of this causative genetic event has been known for many years, but the precise manner in which it causes the developmental abnormalities of PWS is not completely understood since the false

Hyperphagia is one of the distinctive features of Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), and when not carefully monitored or controlled, can be life threatening. It emerges in early childhood and remains a life-long challenge for individuals with PWS and their caregivers. To effectively manage and, in the future, treat hyperphagia, it is important to be false

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder found in ~1 in 15,000 to 20,000 births. PWS phenotype caused by the loss of function of several genes located on chromosome 15. These genes are usually ‘switched on’ on the chromosome 15 that is inherited from the father and ‘switched off’ on the chromosome 15 inherited from the false

Although it is well established that deletion of SNORD116 contributes to PWS in humans, mice missing Snord116 don’t display hyperphagia and obesity. This makes it very difficult to study the biology of SNORD116 and test anti-obesity drugs. In a major breakthrough, Dr. Yeo’s group has shown that if Snord116 is deleted in adult mice, a percentage of false

Numerous hormone levels are deficient in PWS. However, the underlying biology and how the altered hormone levels contribute to the characteristics of PWS is not well understood. Dr. Nicholls’ group has developed a novel cell culture model system to study how PWS genes regulate hormone production and release. This model system will advance our false

ABSTRACT

Recent technological developments have ushered in a new era for the medical research field based on our ability to generate stem cells (called induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs) out of adult patient cells, such as blood or skin fibroblasts. There are two important benefits of this technology relevant for research into Prader Willi Syndrome false

There are two goals to this study: 1) To identify differences among individuals with PWS and autism from those who have PWS without autism by analyzing gene expression and 2) To identify new patterns of gene expression which may help explain the PWS condition or how other very small molecules that do not make protein (non-coding RNAs) implicated false