Health · Medical Research · 1 day ago
UC Riverside to test protein therapy for Fragile X in mice
Researchers at the University of California, Riverside, will test a possible protein-based treatment for Fragile X syndrome.
The project is funded by a one-year, $100,000 grant from the FRAXA Research Foundation.
Fragile X is caused by changes affecting the FMR1 gene and the production of FMRP, a protein important for brain development and function.
The condition can affect learning, memory, social behavior and sensitivity to sensory input, and is an important genetic cause of autism spectrum disorder.
The treatment candidates, developed by Bowen's FX Therapeutics, are designed to replace the function of the missing or impaired protein and cross the blood-brain barrier.
The team will give the candidates to mice with Fragile X and use brain recordings to see whether abnormal activity moves closer to normal.
This pilot study will measure brain physiology, not whether the mice improve at learning or memory.
The University of California, Riverside, has received a one-year, $100,000 grant from the FRAXA Research Foundation to study a potential protein-based therapy for Fragile X syndrome.
The project will test protein candidates developed by Bowen's FX Therapeutics in Fragile X knockout mice.
The proteins are designed to replace the function of a protein that is missing or impaired in people with Fragile X syndrome and are intended to cross the blood-brain barrier.
Dr. Devin Binder's laboratory will use electroencephalography to assess whether treatment changes brain activity abnormalities in the mice.
The pilot study will assess brain physiology, not directly test whether the mice improve in learning or memory.
- Who
- Dr. Devin Binder and his research team at the University of California, Riverside, with protein candidates developed by Bowen's FX Therapeutics
- What
- A study testing protein-based therapy candidates for effects on brain activity in a mouse model of Fragile X syndrome
- When
- A one-year project; the article was published October 10, 2026
- Where
- University of California, Riverside
- Why
- To investigate whether the protein treatments can correct abnormal brain activity associated with Fragile X syndrome
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
They can engineer a protein and get it into the brain and cells. A few years ago, that would have seemed like science fiction.
If the Fragile X mice after treatment begin to resemble the normal mice, if their physiology is essentially normalized, that would be a very significant result.
This story does not have a timeline yet.
- Grant
- One year and $100,000, from the FRAXA Research Foundation
- Research institution
- University of California, Riverside
- Laboratory lead
- Dr. Devin Binder
- Animal model
- Fragile X knockout mice
- Estimated number affected
- About 100,000 Americans
Sources
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