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FPWR Blog

Genetic characterization of PWS mouse - FPWR supported

Dr. Rob Nicholls has just published another study supported by FPWR. You may recall that his group developed a mouse model of PWS (and Angelman's syndrome if inherited maternally) some years back. We are currently supporting his studies to better cha...

Topics: Research

Imaging 'fullness' in the brain

Another new article is just out on brain imaging during eating in people with PWS, and it better defines the changes in the brain associated with feeling full after a meal. The brain images show the lack of those changes in most people with PWS, even...

Refining the genetic region critical for PWS

Below is a link to recently published paper from Dr. Francke's group at Stanford Univ. You might recall that Dr. Francke received an FPWR grant in the first funding cycle (2003), and the work in this publication was supported by those funds.

Topics: Research

Increased number of ghrelin producing cells in PWS

Here is an article in which the authors investigated why people with PWS have high levels of ghrelin in their blood. They wondered if perhaps it had something to do with growth hormone (GH) deficiency, which is common in PWS.

Topics: Research

Comprehensive review of feeding regulation / obesity

Nature Neuroscience is a top notch science journal and this month they have a feature: "Feeding Regulation and Obesity". This 'focus' includes several comprehensive (and pretty hard-core science) reviews on the current understanding of the neurobiolo...

Topics: Research

Obesity drug development - link

Here's a nice summary of (some of the) ongoing obesity drug development strategies:

Topics: Research

New approach to gene therapy - zinc fingers

I wanted to share a new article that just came out in "Nature" (a very well respected journal) in the field of gene therapy. The link to the abstract is below. This advance is not likely to have an impact in PWS in the near future, but it does repres...

Topics: Research

Ghrelin in PWS and 'hypothalamic obesity'

Two recent papers look at the obesity due to hypothalamic damage (hypothalamic obesity-HO, which can occur, for example, after treatment for a brain tumor), and one directly compares that condition to PWS.

Topics: Research

Figuring out how C75 acts

Here's a new article trying to sort out how C75 acts. For those of you who have tried to read any of the medical literature on appetite/feeding/satiety, you have probably realized that there are many hormones and neurotransmitters that influence food...

Topics: Research