UCLA IDDRC

Summary For over 55 years, the UCLA IDDRC has been committed to improving the lives of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs) through basic and translational research, education, and outreach. Our Center aims to provide outstanding resources and infrastructure to UCLA IDD researchers using the most innovative technologies with the goal of impacting the well-being of individuals with IDDs and their families. The IDDRC serves as the central hub for IDD research on a campus that is widely known for its outstanding neuroscience research environment. Our mission is to create an ideal environment that promotes world-class research in IDD by providing open access to cutting edge core facilities, administrative infrastructure, and by fostering close interactions among investigators from a variety of disciplines who are committed to translational research in intellectual and developmental disabilities. Activities of the IDDRC consist of providing key technical resources, a high level of administrative support and integration activities across the UCLA and national IDDRC communities. During the current award cycle, the IDDRC has supported high quality research through the 5 Cores and the Research Project. Critical changes in personnel have included a new Director, Harley Kornblum, and Associate Directors Suma Jacob and Peyman Golshani who will lead the IDDRC into the future. One purpose of this bridge funding is to maintain the key core functions of the IDDRC to support IDD research at UCLA and maintain a high standard of excellence. These cores are: Core A: Administration and Dissemination, Core B: Clinical Translation, Core C: Genetics genomics and Bioinformatics, Core D: Cells, Circuits, and Systems Analysis, and Core E: Functional Visualization. Each core plays a critical role and has demonstrated a high level of productivity and innovation during the current cycle. Taken together, the cores will support at least 99 projects during the coming year. A second purpose of the bridge funding is to provide support to complete a limited set of aims for our Research Project. This project focuses on one of the most clinically important yet poorly studied facets of IDD, disordered sleep. The project has made substantial progress in our originally proposed Aims in defining sleep disturbances in Rett and Dup 15q syndromes, investigating sleep phenotypes in animal models of these syndromes, and utilizing brain organoids to identify cellular and molecular changes that may underlie disordered sleep and other processes such as cognition. We request one year of bridge funding to complete clinical studies, analyze previously-collected overnight EEG in Rett patients, and to generate more compelling organoid models of Rett and Dup 15 syndrome. Bridge funding will allow us to maintain an integrated, vibrant and productive IDD research community at UCLA and springboard us into the future of IDD research, which will rely heavily on transdisciplinary studies to take on the enormous task of developing novel therapeutic strategies that directly address causes and symptoms of IDD. Project Number: 3P50HD103557-05S1 | Fiscal Year: 2025 | NIH Institute/Center: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) | Principal Investigator: HARLEY KORNBLUM (+2 co-PIs) | Institution: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES, LOS ANGELES, CA | Award Amount: $1,184,235 | Activity Code: P50 View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3P50HD10355705S1