We proudly support the important research of two of our Crnic Institute scientists, Katheleen Gardiner, Ph.D. and Michael Yeager, Ph.D. Dr. Gardiner received a R03 NIH grant to understand cognitive deficits in Down syndrome from Hsa21 orthologs on mouse chromosome 10 and Dr. Yeager received a Lejeune grant to study pneumonia in Down syndrome. NIH awarded Dr. Gardiner $52,750 from September 1, 2017 to August 31, 2019. The Jérôme Lejeune Foundation awarded Dr. Yeager $50,000 from August 18, 2017 to July 21, 2019.

Katheleen Gardiner, Ph.D.

Dr. Katheleen Gardiner is a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado Denver and the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome. Dr. Gardiner received a B.S. degree in Honors Physics from McGill University in Montreal. She then spent 2 ½ years teaching high school general science and physics in Kanye, Botswana. She received a PhD from the Department of Biophysics and Genetics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, for studies on RNA processing in bacteria, work which subsequently was awarded a Nobel Prize.

During a postdoctoral fellowship at the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in Denver, Dr. Gardiner began working on Down syndrome, initially mapping genes on human chromosome 21 at the start of the human genome project. This work led to her chairing an international committee on genomic sequence annotation when the complete DNA sequence of human chromosome 21 was generated and published in 2000. Dr. Gardiner has continued to focus her research on human chromosome 21 and Down syndrome at the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, then at the University of Denver. She moved to the University of Colorado in 2007 and joined the Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome in 2012. Current research focuses on protein expression in mouse and human model systems of Down syndrome, and combines wet bench experimental work with computational approaches. The goal is to identify critical patterns in gene expression that underlie learning and memory deficits and to manipulate these with drug treatments to rescue cognitive deficits.

Dr. Gardiner has organized that last two international conferences on Down syndrome and the biology of human chromosome 21 (in 2007 and 2004) in Washington DC, and co-organized similar conferences in 2000 and 1997, held at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, and the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, respectively. She recently organized a conference entitled “Cognition in Down syndrome: molecular, cellular and behavioral phenotypes and the promise of pharmacotherapeutics.” It was held in Washington, DC, April 13-15, 2013.

Michael Yeager, Ph.D.

Michael Yeager is an Associate Professor in Pediatrics and Bioengineering at the University of Colorado. He earned his Ph.D. at CU in Experimental Pathology and completed post-doctoral fellowships at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes and National Jewish Hospital. His primary research interests have focused on inflammation and fibrosis of the lung vasculature and the right ventricle in children and adults with pulmonary hypertension and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Recently, he has been investigating why persons with Down syndrome are more susceptible to infectious lung disease. He is grateful to be funded to do this work by the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, the American Heart Association, and the Jerome Lejeune Foundation.

Global Down Syndrome Foundation. Yup. That’s actually the name of our non-profit. You can say protecting people with Down syndrome is not only our mission but in our DNA. So when the issue of a 10-year old girl with Down syndrome separated from her mother in Texas came up, we naturally took notice. And, when a guest commentator on Fox News dissed even the idea of a 10-year old girl with Down syndrome as being lefty-bait for sympathy with a “womp womp” you bet we took notice.

Here’s the thing—whether you believe these separations are a matter of national security or a matter of inhumane leverage for a wall, there is no doubt the children are innocent and what they’re being put through is horrible. And the children with Down syndrome aren’t acting, they actually have Down syndrome and therefore special needs.

Unfortunately, we cannot physically protect this 10-year old with Down syndrome in Texas, but we can virtually protect her and others by demanding that she not be ridiculed or disrespected. We can allow her story to be told in a complete and civil manner.

At Global we know people with Down syndrome have idiosyncratic speech that in many cases only family members or teachers understand. So, even a fluent Spanish speaker would have difficulty in communicating with this 10-year old girl. We know that expressive language is compromised and is often 2-3x worse than receptive language, and that people with the condition depend heavily on routine to function. It is safe to say that, in all likelihood, this 10-year old girl with Down syndrome is suffering mental trauma and we strongly support her immediate reunification with her father—who is apparently a US citizen—and we are offering assistance from Down syndrome experts to the extent her detention is prolonged. Please help us to advocate- will YOU stand up? #GlobalHelpHerNow.

Michelle Sie Whitten
President & CEO
Global Down Syndrome Foundation

After years of advocacy, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation, its research affiliate, the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, and its nationwide network of dedicated members and self-advocates are celebrating House Labor and Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Tom Cole’s (R-OK) announcement of a historic and significant 65% increase of Down syndrome research funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from $35 million in FY2017 to $58 million in FY2018.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) is one of the many bipartisan leaders who is celebrating this historic moment. The Quincy Jones Award Recipient has a daughter with Down syndrome and has been a champion in helping Global move forward our advocacy work in Washington, D.C.

“I applaud the Global Down Syndrome Foundation for their unwavering and dedicated advocacy to increase NIH research funding benefitting people with Down syndrome.  Global makes a strong and irrefutable moral case to give people with Down syndrome their fair share of funding.  They also are providing tangible, excellent science that if funded properly by the NIH, will not only improve the lives of those with the condition but millions of others who suffer from diseases people with Down syndrome are predisposed to, or protected from.  My daughter Katherine and 400,000 other Americans with Down syndrome deserve to know their government is investing their future,” Congresswoman Holmes said.

Read more about this historical increase.