Congratulations to Dr. Amy Ramsey, Dr. Graham Collingridge, Dr. Ángeles García Cazorla, as well as Dr. Stephen Traynelis, Dr. Tim Benke, Dr. Johannes Lemke, Dr. Jennifer Bain, and Dr. Steve Finkbeiner and colleagues for being awarded research grants from Simons Foundation that together amount to nearly $3 million!  

Dr. Stephen Traynelis, Dr. Tim Benke, Dr. Johannes Lemke, Dr. Jennifer Bain, and Dr. Steve Finkbeiner and colleagues plan to study GRIN Disorder natural history, incidence, and clinical and functional consequences of variants with their Simons Foundation Director Award. The data from this study will be compiled and shared in a way that will help to accelerate the development of treatments for GRIN Disorder.  

Dr. Amy Ramsey, Dr. Graham Collingridge, Dr. Ángeles García Cazorla, Homology Medicines, and colleagues were awarded the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative – 2021 Genomics of ASD: Pathways to Genetic Therapies grant. The purpose of this research is to test Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) gene therapy strategies for GRIN1 and GRIN2B. The researchers are trying one of several possible gene therapy strategies with the hopes that it will be able to help the greatest number of GRIN patients, regardless of missense or nonsense variants. The researchers are going to study the effects of gene therapy medicines on a GRIN1 loss-of-function variant, GRIN1 gain-of-function variant, and a GRIN2B loss-of-function variant mouse model. They will try both intravenous and intrathecal routes of administration of the medicines to see if they can deliver enough DNA to improve the behavior of the mice and make them healthier. They will study these mice to see if medicines cause any harm or toxicity. Additionally, they will see for how long the benefits of the medicine will work. This project will be funded over a period of three years. Meagan Collins (CureGRIN, Research Coordinator) spent some time with Dr. Ramsey to learn more about the award. Watch the full interview here.

Dr. Ramsey noted that this award would not have been possible without the help of CureGRIN. In 2019, Keith McArthur (CureGRIN, CEO and Head of Science) met with Homology Medicines in Boston, MA. Homology Medicines agreed to make gene therapy medicines for GRIN Disorders and test them in GRIN animal models. In 2021, Keith learned about the grant opportunity involving a public-private partnership. Keith brought this opportunity to Dr. Ramsey and Dr. Albert Seymore, Chief Science Officer at Homology and encouraged them to apply. CureGRIN helped to bridge partnerships between the academic and clinical labs and Homology Medicines to facilitate the grant application.  

Congratulations to all of the researchers involved in these research grants!  

Thank you for all of your hard work and commitment to GRI patients and their families!