The Sarah Huffman Award for Promising Young Researchers
Sarah Huffman was a very special and inspiring young lady and will forever hold a treasured place in our hearts. The Pitt Hopkins Research Foundation is dedicated to making a difference in the lives of individuals with Pitt Hopkins. Annah Moore, a Vanderbilt University Graduate Student, is a part of the Sweat lab that was the first lab we ever funded. We are thrilled to announce that we have named a grant to Annah in Sarah’s honor – “The Sarah Huffman Award for Promising Young Researchers.”
Title:
Novel Therapeutics for Pitt Hopkins Syndrome, Annah Moore, Graduate Student, Pharmacology Department Vanderbilt University
Under the Mentorship of:
Dr. David Sweatt, Chairman, Department of Pharmacology and Dr. Colleen Niswender, Research Associate Professor of Pharmacology
Summary
Annah Moore’s project is focused on the discovery of small molecules designed by the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery as potential therapeutics for Pitt Hopkins Syndrome (PTHS). Preliminary experiments have shown cognitive enhancing properties in Pitt Hopkins model mice after treatment with a drug that acts at the M4 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor. Annah will test this compound in additional mouse models for PTHS and will continue to investigate candidate drugs. She has also documented abnormal breathing in a PTHS mouse line, and plans to further characterize this trait. Annah has also recently been accepted into the Vanderbilt Program in Molecular Medicine, which will give her the opportunity to work with a clinical mentor and meet patients with neurodevelopmental disorders.
