Landon’s League Foundation: CAMSAP1 Research Update

01/21/2019:

“Keep moving, for it may well be that the greatest song has not yet been sung, the greatest book has not been written, the highest mountain has not been climbed. This is your challenge…If you can’t fly, then run.  If you can’t run, then walk.  If you can’t walk, then crawl, but by all means keep moving.”  – Martin Luther King, Jr.

We’ve all heard it at some point in our lives:  there are no guarantees in life.  Life and medicine are very similar in that manner.  Prior to initiating this research project, it was conveyed that there was no guarantee that an affected mouse with a CAMSAP1 gene mutation could be possible or that mice with such mutation would even survive birth.

Researchers and scientists have previously been unable to successfully duplicate disease-specific mouse models for various reasons, including the inability for the affected mice to survive birth, yet we agreed to move forward with this project with cautious optimism and hope.

And, we are certainly moving forward!  Today, we were given the best possible news:

Per Katie with The Jackson Laboratory, the four initial founder mice (that were, ironically, born on our wedding anniversary) produced the mice we have all been waiting and hoping for!! Twenty-five (25) second-generation (N1) pups were born with 13 of them having a birth day of 01/13/2019 while the other 12 were born on 01/16/2019! (This, of course, could not have been done without continuing with even more irony as 01/16/2017 was Landon’s original “due date”!)

Katie also gave us a tentative timeline as far as the future of the project is concerned.  In about 2 weeks, the 25 N1 mice will undergo a DNA validation process to see which of them are the genetically mutated CAMSAP1 deficient mice.  Following that, the mice will then be identified.  These mice will then be “phenotyped” or characteristically described by their biologists/technicians at 5 weeks of age, a report will be given to Dr. Curiel’s lab, and then the mice will be shipped to Dr. Curiel’s lab at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO.

Thank for your continued support and for following our journey!  Stay tuned for more exciting news!

#LandonsLeague #CAMSAP1 #findacure #mousemodel #epilepsy #lissencephaly #smoothbrain