Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have shown that it is possible to do what had once seemed unthinkable—shut down the extra chromosome that causes the developmental problems and intellectual disabilities in people with Down syndrome.
The surprising result—so far accomplished only with human cells grown in laboratory dishes—is the fruit of a daring, out-of-the-box approach by a scientist whose work has been shaped by her early experience counseling families of children with disabilities.
“It really is revolutionary, in terms of causing us all to rethink the one impossible thought—can you make, functionally, that extra chromosome disappear,” said Dr. Brian Skotko, co-director of the Down Syndrome Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, who was not involved in the new study. “I don’t think any of us thought it was possible or even within the current realm of scientific dreaming that we might one day be able to do it.”
