Jackson Laboratory Scientist Named National Down Syndrome Society "Researcher of The Year"

Date: July 2002

Bar Harbor - For her groundbreaking work in developing a mouse model for the birth defect known as Down syndrome, Jackson Laboratory Senior Staff Scientist Muriel Davisson, Ph.D., was named "Researcher of the Year" by the National Down Syndrome Society at a ceremony in Nashville on July 8.

In presenting the award to Dr. Davisson during the NDSS Annual Conference, Dr. David Patterson, chair of the organization's Science Advisory Board, said, "We are indebted to Dr. Davisson for the advances in Down syndrome research and treatments that she has made possible."

Each day, 14 babies are born in the United States with an extra copy of chromosome 21 (a condition known as trisomy). This will affect their development in a wide range of ways, but all 350,000 Americans with Down syndrome this country share two traits - some degree of retardation and characteristic facial features. Chances of Down syndrome increase with the age of the mother - in 90 percent of cases, the extra chromosome 21 comes from the mother. Yet 75 percent of all Down syndrome babies have mothers younger than 35 years of age.

About 15 years ago, Dr. Davisson set about the task of developing a mouse model for Down syndrome to help researchers worldwide understand this most common human birth defect. This turned out to be an exceedingly difficult challenge: some 300 genes are involved in Down syndrome. Five years and 65 tries later, she succeeded in developing a mouse with a recombination of chromosomes 16 and 17 - the mouse equivalent of human chromosome 21. In October 1995 - after another 5 years of research - Dr. Davisson and colleagues at The Johns Hopkins University published their studies showing these mice have the learning and behavioral aspects of Down.

Since then the mouse, designated Ts65Dn (for "trisomy, 65th chromosomal aberration, Davisson") became the gold standard for Down syndrome researchers. To this day, Dr. Davisson maintains the colony and distributes the mice as well as conducting her own research. Her goal: to determine which of the 300 genes have the most effect. "Then, we can look at therapeutic ways to suppress the negative effects of the gene products," she says.

In fact, the Ts65Dn mouse has already shown its value. Dr. Davisson and her Hopkins colleagues have shown that a drug called Piracetiam - widely touted as a beneficial treatment - is actually deleterious to people with Down syndrome. Dr. Davisson and her colleagues at the Eleanor Rossevelt Institute in Denver have shown that spatial learning deficits in both children with Down syndrome and Ts65Dn mice are due to deficits in the hippocampus part of the brain.

The National Down Syndrome Society Research Award was established in 1998 to
honor an individual seeking information that will help to improve the lives of individuals with Down syndrome. The recipient may be involved with either basic or applied research in various fields relating to Down syndrome. Dr. Davisson is the fifth recipient of the award.

Dr. Davisson was born in Tremont, Maine, and attended Tremont Elementary School and Pemetic High School (now Pemetic Grammar School). She earned her bachelor's degree at Mount Holyoke College and her Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University. She joined the staff of The Jackson Laboratory in 1971 and was appointed senior staff scientist in 1992.
 

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