Monthly Archives: March 2023

[Spectrum News, Peter Hess | March 23, 2023] Roughly 1 in 36 8-year-olds in the United States has autism, according to 2020 prevalence data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This figure represents a nearly 20 percent increase over the agency’s 2018 estimate of 1 in 44 and continues a decades-long […]

U.S. autism prevalence continues to rise as race and sex ...

[Picower News, David Orenstein | March 11, 2023] On March 10 the FDA approved Trofinetide, a drug based on the protein IGF-1, as the first drug available to treat Rett syndrome. The original research showing that IGF-1 could treat Rett syndrome was published by MIT in 2009. Rett syndrome is a […]

3 questions for Mriganka Sur: The basic research origin of ...

[Picower News, David Orenstein | March 10, 2023] When astrocyte function is disrupted, neurons in the brain’s motor cortex struggle to execute and refine motion, a new study in mice shows. From steering a car to swinging a tennis racket, we learn to execute all kinds of skilled movements during […]

Astrocyte cells critical for learning skilled movements

[Spectrum News, Shaena Montanari | March 2, 2023]   Margaret Brimble was a new professor in 1999 at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. The country was not exactly known as a hotbed of drug development, but Brimble was an optimist, a dedicated chemist and maybe even a bit […]

Debut drug for Rett syndrome at edge of approval