Haydar, Tarik F PHD

This is a new application for the DC-IDDRC, the District of Columbia Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center. The DC-IDDRC is dedicated to improving the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) and their families by creating a strong translational research environment optimized for studying and defining the basic causes and mechanisms underlying IDDs, and designing new effective treatments and prevention strategies. To realize this mission, we provide a rich environment for performing fully translational IDD research in the four collaborating DC academic medical centers (Children’s National Hospital (lead), George Washington University, Howard University, and Georgetown University).

The novel understanding of oligodendrocyte maturation defects in brains of humans with Down syndrome and the Ts65Dn mouse model open a new avenue to possible cognitive therapies for persons with Down syndrome—we have shown that these cellular defects lead to less myelin in the forebrain and cerebellum and that this causes slower neuronal transmission in the brain. The experiments in this proposal are designed to uncover the cell intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms underlying the cellular defect and to measure whether motor and/or spatial learning and memory are correlated with the dysmyelination. Finally, we will investigate genetic and pharmacological therapies designed to promote myelination and improve cognitive and motor function.