Chloe White<\/p>\n
!<\/p>\n
!
\nIn her lecture entitled Of Mice and Men and Girls and Autism, President and
\nNeuroscience Researcher Joanne Berger-Sweeney spoke of her work looking at neurological
\ndiseases in mice. When using a mouse as a model for a human disorder, she looks for four major
\nsimilarities: a mouse that models the symptoms, genetics, chemical changes and brain anatomy
\nof the human. Specifically, President Berger-Sweeney has studied Rett Syndrome, an autism
\nspectrum disorder that affects mostly females. Rett Syndrome, a regressive developmental
\ndisorder, causes difficulties in communication and repeated hand-flapping motions. Often, the
\nRett Syndrome girls only live until 30 years of age or so. One of the hardest parts about this
\ndisorder is that until approximately 6-18 months, the girls seem neuro-typical until they start to
\nregress. During a period of rapid regression which occurs between 1-3 years, the girls present as
\nautistic, and develop habits such as the hand flapping motion. In a pseudo-stabilization period,
\nthe autistic symptoms regress and respiratory problems begin. It\u2019s these respiratory problems that
\nonly allow the girls to live until 30 years.
\nAlthough I knew about this syndrome before her lecture, there was a specific detail that
\nPresident Berger-Sweeney mentioned that I was unaware of. Rett Syndrome is a syndrome where
\nthe regulation of genes has been lost. This occurs when there\u2019s a problem with a transcriptional
\nrepressor known as Mecp2. Normally, Mecp2 blocks gene transcription. However in this
\nsyndrome, it itself is inhibited so that it can no longer inhibit gene transcription. This causes the
\ngenes to not be regulated enough. Mecp2 is located on the x-chromosome, and is associated with
\n95% of Rett Syndrome cases. Although this is a very high percentage, it was not enough for
\nPresident Berger-Sweeney, so her research continues.
\nOne experiment that President Berger-Sweeney has run on her mice is called the Social
\nApproach experiment. In this experiment, she monitored how much time mice that modeled a
\nRett syndrome like disease chose to spend alone verse with other mice. She hypothesized that
\nthey would be more eager to spend time alone. However, the data she collected did not support
\nthis. Instead, she found that mice spent most of their time with the other mouse (which was in a
\ncage). When she went to talk to the parents of girls with Rett Syndrome, they stated that the girls
\ncan actually be very sociable. This portrays one of the most important parts about doing research:
\nyou have to take the data as it comes. Although this data initially did not support President
\nBerger-Sweeney\u2019s research, she could not alter it in any way to support her study. Instead, she
\nwent back to her research and has been conducting more tests in order to find a cure for this
\nsyndrome.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chloe White ! ! In her lecture entitled Of Mice and Men and Girls and Autism, President and Neuroscience Researcher Joanne Berger-Sweeney spoke of her work looking at neurological diseases in mice. When using a mouse as a model for … Continue reading