Monthly Archives: May 2012

Libretti

The 2nd Annual Charity Golf Outing sponsored by Libretti’s is being held on Monday, June 4 at the Maplewood Country Club in Maplewood, New Jersey.The golf event will be followed by cocktails, dinner and an award ceremony. All proceeds will be directed to Research Down Syndrome and its mission to fund scientific studies aimed at understanding and treating the learning difficulties associated with Down syndrome. RDS thanks Libretti’s and the event organizers, including Mark Piserchio and Jack Dean.

Join RDS Runners in Upcoming Races

Research Down Syndrome’s RDS Runners program would like to share its upcoming events schedule for those runners who are interested in having their miles support Down syndrome research.

The program has participated this year in multiple races across the country, from half marathons in New York City, Washington, DC and Houston to shorter races in the Midwest. The RDS Runners team was a top fundraiser in the NYC Half Marathon on March 18.
RDS Runners is the national program directed specifically to raising funds for research targeted towards understanding the cognitive difficulties associated with Down syndrome and the development of drug therapies that will increase life opportunities for persons with Down syndrome.
The program has been accepted as a charity partner in events across the country, and has energized the Down syndrome community and runners nationwide through its potential to make significant increases in research funding. The program’s two professional trainers assist individuals with their training needs.
For more information on the events below, or if you are interested in organizing a local running, biking or triathlon event, contact: rdsrunners(at)researchds.org. You can find the latest updates on the RDS Runners program on the RDS Runners blog.
Upcoming Events:
NDSC Fun Run – July 20
The Wipro San Francisco Marathon – July 29
Chicago Half Marathon – September 9
US Air Force Marathon Weekend – September 15
Bank of America Chicago Marathon – October 7
Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend – October 7
ING New York City Marathon – November 4
Philadelphia Race Weekend – November 18

The program has participated this year in multiple races across the country, from half marathons in New York City, Washington, DC and Houston to shorter races in the Midwest. The RDS Runners team was a top fundraiser in the NYC Half Marathon on March 18.

RDS Runners is the national program directed specifically to raising funds for research targeted towards understanding the cognitive difficulties associated with Down syndrome and the development of drug therapies that will increase life opportunities for persons with Down syndrome.

The program has been accepted as a charity partner in events across the country, and has energized the Down syndrome community and runners nationwide through its potential to make significant increases in research funding. The program’s two professional trainers assist individuals with their training needs.

For more information on the events below, or if you are interested in organizing a local running, biking or triathlon event, contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
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. You can find the latest updates on the RDS Runners program on the RDS Runners blog.

Upcoming Events:

NDSC Fun Run – July 20

The Wipro San Francisco Marathon – July 29

Chicago Half Marathon – September 9

US Air Force Marathon Weekend – September 15

Bank of America Chicago Marathon – October 7

Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon Weekend – October 7

ING New York City Marathon – November 4

Philadelphia Race Weekend – November 18

Upcoming Webinar: Dr. Jon Pierce-Shimomura

A brightly lit room.  Ranks of sparkling glassware.  Computers churning out data.  Busy researchers bent over their work.  And lots and lots of…worms?

Crawling C. elegans

Crawling C. elegans
Photo by Bob Goldstein. [Source]

These tiny, translucent nematodes might not be the first thing you think of when you consider Down syndrome cognition research.  But you’ll find them in the laboratoryof UT-Austin’s Dr. Jon Pierce-Shimomura, whose work has been called “brilliant and revolutionary.”

Pierce-Shimomura, an associate professor of neurobiology and DSRTF grant recipient, is conducting promising research on Down syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease using C. elegans, which have a short life span — allowing fast results when assessing degenerative developments — and some critical biological similarities to humans.  He and his colleagues are focused on developing an innovative high-throughput screening system that will allow rapid evaluation of neurobiological mechanisms and behaviors.  With a large-scale working system in place, researchers will be able to chart the effects of drug therapies and identify potential new therapeutic targets quickly — a game-changing proposition for treating neurodegenerative diseases.

As the father of a child with Down syndrome — Ocean, age 10 — Pierce-Shimomura could feel a particular urgency for developing treatments to improve cognition and stave off dementia.  He’s actively involved in outreach, having worked with physicians to train them in counseling parents upon diagnosis, and has hopes of eventually employing adults with Down syndrome in his laboratory.  We are proud to have him join us in our ongoing series of webinars.

Jon Pierce-Shimomura

Jon Pierce-Shimomura
Photo by Marsha Miller. [Source]

Register now for his presentation, then join us on Tuesday, May 22 at 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET to hear Dr. Pierce-Shimomura’s novel perspective on Down syndrome research.  (In case you’re squeamish, don’t worry: He’ll leave the worms in the lab.)