Nicoletta Landsberger, PhD
University of Milan
Translational HeART Award: $148,390
Cellular and Molecular Drug Screening
In order to treat and ultimately cure Rett syndrome, researchers are currently identifying new therapeutic approaches and testing them in animal models. Unfortunately, testing new treatments in mouse models of Rett syndrome often requires considerable time and financial resources. Dr. Landsberger’s lab is developing an approach that uses cells in culture derived from these mouse models to pre-screen potential new treatments before advancing to animal testing. Because cell culture experiments are typically fast and economical, this approach could also be used to screen libraries containing thousands of compounds to rapidly identify new drugs. As such, this method could provide a system for greatly accelerating the development of Rett syndrome treatments if this research shows that it can reliably and reproducibly score a new drug’s potential.