Series Editors: April Levin, MD, Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, USA and Ted Abel, PhD, Iowa Neuroscience Institute, USA
Promise fulfilled? Translating progress in the study of genetic conditions to separate forms of IDD
Important advances in our understanding of intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) caused by rare, single gene (e.g., Fragile X Syndrome, Rett Syndrome) or copy number variants (e.g., 16p11.2 microdeletion syndrome), have the exciting potential to shed light on basic mechanisms and new therapeutic strategies both for affected individuals and individuals with “non-syndromic” IDDs who show overlapping phenotypic and perhaps pathogenetic profiles. Enthusiasm around this potential has motivated research investment in syndromic IDDs that, in turn, has helped guide new research strategies around non-syndromic IDDs. The power of this approach remains unclear, however, as it has led to new knowledge of IDDs across genetic/molecular, brain, and behavioral levels, while also showing significant limitations, including demonstrations that single-gene NDDs may be more phenotypically distinct from non-syndromic NDDs than once believed. This special issue will integrate new reviews, research articles, and case reports aimed at understanding syndromic and non-syndromic IDDs and examining the extent to which knowledge may be translated across different IDD populations.
Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders is pleased to present this seventh IDDRC special thematic series. This collection of articles is sponsored by the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (IDDRCs) and articles have undergone the journal’s standard peer-review process. The Series Editors declare no competing interests.