FLORIDA LEGISLATURE DESIGNATES APRIL 16, 2007 AS FLORIDA FRAGILE X RESEARCH AND AWARENESS DAY

To coincide with the Florida Fragile X Research Conference, Florida State Representative Mary Brandenburg sponsored a resolution declaring April 16, 2007 as Florida Fragile X Research and Awareness Day. Thank you to Representative Brandenburg and her Legislative Aide, Nicole Williams, for bringing Resolution 18235 to the floor. Please read the complete text of the resolution on page 3 of this newsletter.

SCRIPPS-FLORIDA PROJECT IDENTIFIES FMR4

About 18 months ago we came to you with information about a new and exciting Fragile X research project at The Scripps Research Institute's new campus in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. A CFXF-funded project is now underway in the Neuroscience Discovery lab of Dr. Claes Wahlestedt. That research is being conducted by a Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Ahmad Khalil. Recently, Dr. Khalil reported for the first time that his CFXF-funded
research has identified a heretofore unidentified gene, now named FMR4, in the region of the well-known FMR1 gene. This finding still has to be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. Nonetheless we hope that this is just the first of many new findings that will emerge from this project that will help us understand more about FMR1, the cause of Fragile X Syndrome. Congratulations, Ahmad!