Dup15q Alliance is proud to be selected for the Cure Epilepsy Rare Epilepsy Partnership Award. This award is co-funded by CURE Epilepsy and Dup15q Alliance.
The Dup15q Alliance is pleased to announce the granting of a Rare Epilepsy Partnership Award to Ype Elgersma, PhD at Erasmus University Medical Center for his project titled “Characterization of a novel Dup(Atp10a-Tub5gcp5) ‘Dup15q’ mouse model with varying levels of UBE3A.”
Rare Epilepsy Partnership Award
Characterization of a Novel Dup(Atp10a-Tub5gcp5) ‘Dup15q’ Mouse Model with Varying Levels of UBE3A
Ype Elgersma
Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC)
Dup15q syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by duplications of a region on chromosome 15, often resulting in intellectual disability and intractable epilepsy. Recent findings indicate that the symptoms may be caused by an interaction of the UBE3A (Ubiquitin Protein Ligase 3A) gene with other genes in the duplicated region. However, the precise interaction between UBE3A and the other duplicated genes is unclear. Dr. Elgersma’s team proposes to develop a new mouse model to study the interaction and dose effect of these genes. If successful, this project will generate a novel representative mouse model of Dup15q syndrome which will be an important tool to study the syndrome as well as to test potential therapies in the future.
The one-year grant is funded in partnership with CURE Epilepsy, whose portion is sponsored by the Robert Withrow Wier Fund.