{"id":39718,"date":"2011-05-10T14:55:31","date_gmt":"2011-05-10T18:55:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=39718"},"modified":"2011-07-21T12:01:18","modified_gmt":"2011-07-21T16:01:18","slug":"collaborative-research-day-focused-on-a-better-understanding-of-developmental-disorders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/05\/collaborative-research-day-focused-on-a-better-understanding-of-developmental-disorders\/","title":{"rendered":"Collaborative Research Day Focused on a Better Understanding of Developmental Disorders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(left to right) Drs. Marc Lalande, Ann Milanese, and Suman Singha, vice president for research at UConn who served as master of ceremonies for Collaborative Research Day on May 5, 2011. (Tina Encarnacion\/UConn Health Center Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gaining a better understanding of neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and ADHD was the focus of Collaborative Research Day held recently at the Health Center\u2019s Cell and Genome Sciences Building. The conference brought together clinicians and researchers from across the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a day we highlighted work at Hartford Hospital, Connecticut Children\u2019s Medical Center and the Health Center around several disorders that affect the development of the brain,\u201d said\u00a0Marc Lalande<\/a>, director of the UConn Stem Cell Institute.<\/p>\n

Lalande\u2019s research team has spent years studying Angelman and Prader-Willi syndromes, two relatively rare genetic disorders. Lalande says their goal is to broaden that research base to more common disorders such as ADHD, autism and schizophrenia.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Ann Milanese, a clinician with Connecticut Children\u2019s, has a whole series of patients with autism spectrum disorders and we would like to work with her to look at some of these patients using our stem cell and genomic sequencing technology,\u201d explained Lalande.<\/p>\n

Currently, Health Center researchers have submitted a combined state stem cell grant with Hartford Hospital researchers to develop stem cells from the skin cells of schizophrenia patients. Another potential collaboration with Hartford Hospital is with the clinicians who conduct brain imaging on patients with schizophrenia and ADHD.<\/p>\n

Lalande says they are hoping to harness the varying expertise at the different institutions to study in the short term how these diseases originate and in the longer term to actually develop cures.<\/p>\n

Featured speakers included:<\/p>\n