Biomedical Research
Biomedical researchers at the Shriver Center pursue a broadly based research program emphasizing developmental neurobiology. A vast majority of cases of mental retardation results from abnormal embryonic brain development. Our researchers approach these issues through investigation and discovery related to normal and abnormal development of the nervous system. Cellular and molecular biological concepts and methodologies are employed in a combined attack on problems related to mental retardation. One program concentrates on the cerebellum and cerebral cortex and addresses fundamental mechanisms that control cell-cell interactions during embryonic development; events that regulate cell differentiation and cell migration during brain development. This program is directed at better understanding of aberrations of neural development, as seen in the broad spectra of "migrational disorders," which cause severe mental retardation and profound developmental disabilities. Closely related projects focus on developmental events in the olfactory system, visual system and hypothalamus. Other areas of interest include the effects of environmental toxins on brain development as well as the role of carbohydrate molecules on proteins and lipids that exert important influence in a variety of developmental processes.