|
|
Welcome to the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Center
The Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (MRDDRC) was established in 1968. It is one of only 14 such centers funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
The mission of the University of Colorado MRDDRC since its inception has been to encourage and facilitate research and research training in inherited and environmental causes of mental retardation and developmental disabilities.
The MRDDRC's research is based upon the premise that successful treatment can be devised only if the biochemistry and molecular biology of a condition is known and if the disease pathogenesis is understood.
Highlights of the Center's activities over the years have included:
- delineation of several previously unknown disorders associated with mental retardation and developmental disabilities
- delineation of the role of trace metal deficiency in human disease
- delineation of cognitive phenotypes of Fragile X syndrome, Down syndrome, PKU and autism
- establishment of testing paradigms for mouse models of human disorders such as Down syndrome and the Fragile X syndrome that define the animal's cognitive, behavioral and emotional strengths and weaknesses
- identification of genes that may be involved in dyslexia.
Members of the MRDDRC come from many departments within the University of Colorado School of Medicine, including Pediatrics, Cell and Developmental Biology, Psychiatry, Pharmacology and Neurology, and from the University of Denver and Colorado State University.
The MRDDRC provides support for basic research to members through core facilities. The core facilities provide investigators access to new and unfamiliar technologies. The scientific cores include a Molecular Biology Core, a Developmental Neuropsychology Core, an Enzyme and Molecular Diagnostic Core, a Mass Spectrometry Core, a Human Subject Recruitment and Evaluation Core, a Tissue Culture Core and an Animal Housing and Assessment Core.
Contact Information
Please direct your questions or requests for additional
information about the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Center to:
Carrie John
Administrator,
Mental Retardation and
Developmental Disabilities Research Center
University of Colorado Denver
Mail Stop 8313, PO Box 6511
Aurora, Colorado 80045-0511
Tel: 303-724-3839
Fax: 303-724-3838
E-mail: carrie.john@uchsc.edu
For further information, visit the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities and the national Developmental Disabilities Research Centers website.
|
|
