CORAL GABLES FUNDRAISER BRINGS
NEW FRIENDS AND SUPPORT
On January 21, 2007, our first
fund raiser in Coral Gables was
hosted by Dr. and Mrs. Jack
Kaplan. The event, held in the
Kaplan's lovely home was a great
success! On a beautiful South
Florida winter day, family and
friends, many of whom knew
little if anything about Fragile X,
learned a great deal and became part of our ever-growing
Fragile X community. The support of their friends is a
lovely tribute to the Kaplan family and their grandson,
Matthew! Thank you to all our new supporters.
ENGELSTEINS ESTABLISH THE ENGELSTEIN /CFXF FRAGILE X RESEARCH FUND
CFXF Board member Sheila Engelstein and her husband, Alec have established the
Engelstein/CFXF Fragile X Research Fund which will fund one Israeli-based Fragile X
research project for three years.
The first award has been made to Dr. Sharon Eden of the Dept. of Experimental
Medicine and Cancer Research at the Hebrew University Medical School in Jerusalem.
Dr. Eden's project is entitled “Regulation by Rac of the Fragile X mental retardation
protein activity”. Dr. Eden will be investigating the implications of a novel protein
complex that mediates Rac signaling to the actin cytoskeleton. Dr. Eden isolated this
protein complex herself in her postdoctoral research.
There is a great deal of excitement around this as it has already been shown to interact with FMRP in the cytoplasm of the cell. This might provide valuable information
regarding the pathological process in Fragile X syndrome patients. We are very grateful
to the Englesteins for their generosity. We welcome Dr. Eden to our CFXF community
and wish her all the best in her research.
Scientific Advisors
Robert Bauchwitz, M.D., Ph.D.
Columbia University
New York, New York
Pietro Chiurazzi, M.D., Ph.D.
University Cattolica
Rome, Italy
Jonathan Cohen, M.D.
Monash University
Melbourne, Australia
Jason Dictenberg, Ph.D.
Yeshiva University
New York, New York
Gideon Dreyfuss, Ph.D.
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Assam EI-Osta, M.D.
The Baker Institute
Melbourne, Australia
Brenda Finucane, M.S.
Elwyn Institute
Elwyn, Pennsylvania
Randi Hagerman, M.D.
University of California at Davis
M.I.N.D. Institute
Davis, California
Prof. Giovanni Neri, M.D.
University Cattolica
Rome, Italy
Allan L. Reiss, M.D.
Stanford University
School of Medicine
Stanford, California
Haruhiko Siomi, Ph.D.
Institute for Genome Research,
University of Tokushima
Tokushima, Japan
Michael Tranfaglia, M.D.
FRAXA Research Foundation
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Karen Usdin, Ph.D.
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland
On January 21, 2007, our first
fund raiser in Coral Gables was
hosted by Dr. and Mrs. Jack
Kaplan. The event, held in the
Kaplan's lovely home was a great
success! On a beautiful South
Florida winter day, family and
friends, many of whom knew
little if anything about Fragile X,
learned a great deal and became part of our ever-growing
Fragile X community. The support of their friends is a
lovely tribute to the Kaplan family and their grandson,
Matthew! Thank you to all our new supporters.
CFXF Board member Sheila Engelstein and her husband, Alec have established the
Engelstein/CFXF Fragile X Research Fund which will fund one Israeli-based Fragile X
research project for three years.
