Let’s welcome the latest addition to the DownSyndrome.com team… Laura Suer has accepted a position as a participating volunteer and editorial staff member who will focus on partner outreach and strategy. She has been active on the site since its inception; blogging at the URL tri21.downsyndrome.com. One of Laura’s first coups (I’m sure one of many) is to establish a relationship with Alexander’s Angels.

Alexander’s Angels runs the Long Island Buddy Walk and has history of providing much needed services to the constituents of Long Island.

Thank you Laura for bridging a relationship with such a wonderful organization. If you live in the Long Island area or if you have the inclination to help their wonderful support group, please consider providing assistance in the form of either volunteerism or financial support.

Laura also transitively enlightened us to the work of the Down Syndrome Research and Treatment Fund who’s charter  is to further support important down syndrome research that will benefit of our loved ones in the future. Support for DSRTF can be in the form of purchasing items from the Down Syndrome Store or donating directly via their website at http://dsrtf.org

Thank you for your contributions to making our communities more educated and accommodating and working tirelessly to help our children, friends, and family happier and healthier.

Alexander’s Angels Mission

With a mission to further awareness of the contributions and needs of individuals with Down syndrome and to raise funds for advocacy, service, and research organizations, the family and friends of Alexander Gomez-Nieto, a child born with Down syndrome in 2001, established Alexander’s Angels in 2007.

The long term goal of Alexander’s Angels is to focus on raising awareness outside the Down syndrome community by continuing working with local colleges and Down syndrome organizations in a collaborative effort to promote better understanding of people with Down syndrome. Alexander’s Angels aims to present the person with Down syndrome for what he/she is, a person with feelings and abilities much like anyone else–to that end Alexander’s Angels aims to organize events that showcase to the community-at-large special talents within the Down syndrome community.

DSRTF’s Mission and Vision

About DSRTF :: Our Mission and Values

Our Mission

To stimulate biomedical research that will accelerate the development of treatments to significantly improve cognition for individuals with Down syndrome.

Treatments that are developed to improve memory, learning and speech will allow individuals with Down syndrome to:

• Participate more successfully in school;
• Lead more active and independent lives;
• Prevent early cognitive decline.

Our Vision

DSRTF sees a new world coming in which people with Down syndrome are fully included in academic and social environments and where they can live independently as adults, if they so choose. In recent years, private and public services, including early intervention, spe

cial education and job training, have greatly improved the lives of those who have Down syndrome. Nevertheless, cognitive challenges make it difficult for most to live

independently during adulthood, and many experience the early onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

The majority of individuals with Down syndrome fall into the mild to moderate range of cognitive impairment. For many of these individuals, a 10%-20% improvement in cognitive ability would provide them with the ability to live independently, hold a job and be fully integrated within their communities. DSRTF believes that the information, tools and techniques that have resulted from the genome project can be applied to the study of cognition in Down syndrome and will result in treatments that can provide the cognitive improvement that will enhance the lives of those with Down syndrome and their families.

Our Values

Narrow focus: DSRTF believes that a narrow focus is critical to the success of our mission. As a result, the only research that DSRTF supports is that which focuses on understanding and improving cognition. Moreover, DSRTF only supports researchers and institutions that are committed to seeing their basic research translated into effective treatments.

A multi-disciplinary approach: DSRTF is dedicated to funding excellent science that is maximized through collaboration between basic scientists and clinicians. DSRTF believes that medical research – particularly as it relates to understanding cognition – is most effective when it is a multi-disciplinary effort. Understanding cognition requires the participation of investigators in a number of disciplines – genetics, molecular and cellular biology, the biology of neural circuits and behavior . In order to increase the likelihood for a breakthrough in the treatment of Down syndrome, DSRTF supports multi-disciplinary research and encourages frequent collaboration among scientists in different fields and at different research institutions.

Attract talent: The field of DS cognition research was neglected for some time due to the complexity of addressing a condition that is the result of having an extra copy of an entire chromosome. DSRTF believes that Down syndrome research will prosper only insofar as we are able to attract the very best and brightest scientists to the work. We believe that our approach has the potential to re-energize the field of Down syndrome research. We will attract new talent by funding both high and low risk projects, and by supporting institutions that build enriching intellectual environments and that encourage collaboration and clinical application.

Again, Thank you Laura Suer for helping highlight these wonderful organizations. Let’s support their respective efforts with time and funding.