Author: Birte Zurek

The group of Siddharth Banka at the Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine identified novel missense gene variants in several unrelated patients with neurodevelopmental disorders. The patients presented moderate to severe intellectual disability, developmental delay, behavioural problems and in addition occasional congenital malformations. Exome sequencing revealed that all patients carry rare missense variants in a novel candidate gene.

The Solve-RD RDMM-Europe Seeding grant will allow the generation of a Zebrafish model by Gaurav K. Varshney and his group at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. The applicant has extensive experience with clinical collaborations, and his primary focus is the use of zebrafish and gene editing technologies to study human disease models.

For more information on the Solve-RD brokerage service and the Seeding Grants see Rare Diseases Models & Mechanisms – Europe (RDMM-Europe).

Solve-RD partner Laurence Faivre from CHU Dijon and colleagues discovered a novel de novo missense variant in a gene in four individuals affected with a severe neurodevelopmental disorder of unknown cause. The RDMM-Europe Seeding Grant awarded to Ype Elgersma at Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam will allow to assess the pathogenicity of this rare genetic variant. The project involves expression of the mutant form in developing mouse embryos and in primary neuronal cultures and analysis of the resulting phenotypes. Ype has great expertise in functional genomic screenings to assess the pathogenicity of genetic variants identified in individuals with neurological development disorder.

The group of Antonio Vitobello from CHU Dijon identified novel gene variants in patients with facial dysmorphism. Loss-of-function mutations of the respective candidate gene have previously been described as causative in a rare genetic disorder characterized by developmental delay and intellectual disability. The Seeding Grant will allow the generation of Zebrafish and Xenopus mutants by Michela Ori and her group at the Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Italy to model the dysmorphic phenotype. Michela has extensive experience in molecular embrology and has previously used Xenopus and Zebrafish animal models to study craniofacial development.

For more information on the Solve-RD brokerage service and the Seeding Grants see Rare Diseases Models & Mechanisms – Europe (RDMM-Europe).

The group of Ana Töpf and Volker Straub at the John Walton Muscular Dystrophy Research Centre, Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University identified new vary rare variants of a gene in patients with severe respiratory failure, dyspnoea and spine rigidity. The RDMM-Europe Seeding Grant of 20,000 EUR awarded to Conrad Weihl and his group at the Washington University School of Medicine will enable the functional validation of the disease causing gene in a knockout mouse model. The group has vast experience in working with mouse models of neuromuscular disorders. In addition, biochemical studies will be carried out in knockout myoblasts to unravel putative mechanism of pathogenicity.

For more information on the Solve-RD brokerage service and the Seeding Grants see Rare Diseases Models & Mechanisms – Europe (RDMM-Europe).

The group of Stephanie Efthymiou and her colleagues at the UCL Institute of Neurology identified novel variants of a gene associated with severe neurodevelopmental disorders. Homozygous carriers of the alleles come up with severely delayed psychomotor development. Neurophysiological investigations indicated severe demyelination, axonal neuropathy and loss of cerebral white matter.

The RDMM-Europe seeding grant will facilitate the generation of a mouse model by Sara Wells at the Mary Lyon Centre, MRC Harwell Institute by using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to alter this novel gene. The model will play an important role in understanding the pathological consequences of the novel gene variants. In particular, the mutants will be studied for phenotypic features observed in the patient, such as neurological development, locomotor activity and behaviour. Modelling this human disease will not only help to provide further evidence on this new rare genetic disease and hence to improve diagnostic and management strategies, but will also facilitate assessment of potential treatment possibilities for patients.

For more information on the Solve-RD brokerage service and the Seeding Grants see Rare Diseases Models & Mechanisms – Europe (RDMM-Europe).