Washington University Wolfram Research Clinic completes its 8th consecutive year!
Dear Wolfram Families and Supporters:
The Washington University Wolfram Research Clinic (or ‘natural history) study just finished its 8th consecutive year of assessing patients with Wolfram Syndrome. This work began in 2010, supported in part by the Snow Foundation. For the past 5 years, it has been supported by a National Institutes of Health grant in Dr. Hershey’s lab (Tracking Neurodegeneration in Wolfram Syndrome; Hershey, Principal Investigator). The focus of this grant is on understanding the neurological changes that may occur over time in Wolfram Syndrome, including the function of the brain (e.g. vision, balance) and the structure of the brain (e.g. the volume or integrity of different regions of the brain).
This year, we focused on assessing new patients, and those who had only been seen once or twice before. We hosted 9 families from all over the country and performed 106 exams and 8 MRIs. This clinic was smaller than previous years due to limitations in funding and the ongoing Dantrolene safety study. However, this focus allowed us to increase our understanding of how symptoms change over a 2 year time period, which are critical data for planning and implementing clinical trials. Altogether, over the past 8 years, we have assessed 40 unique individuals with Wolfram Syndrome and their families, some up to 7 times.
Just weeks before the clinic, we got the good news that our request to extend this work for another 5 years was reviewed very favorably! We received a score which should ensure that we get the funding we need, but will only know for sure this fall. In anticipation, we are going to start planning for next summer’s research clinic soon and hope to open it to anyone who has been seen in the past or any new patients that come to our attention. We will work together with Dr. Urano on any ongoing drug safety or efficacy studies to make sure that families do not have to choose between studies and that each study can support the other’s goals.
As always, we will keep you up to date with our WU Wolfram Research Clinic newsletters, the Snow Foundation newsletters, our website (http://hersheylab.wustl.edu) and emails or calls. Please contact any of us at any time if we can provide more information or assistance! We would love to hear from you!
Thank you!
Professor & Principal Investigator,
WU Wolfram Research Clinic
Bess Marshall, MD
Pediatric Endocrinologist & Research Clinic Medical Director
Samantha Ranck, MSW
Research Clinic Coordinator
314 362-6514
rancks@npg.wustl.edu