How You Can Help :: Adopt-A-Mouse

Thank you so much for inquiring about the
Adopt-A-Mouse Campaign for Down Syndrome Research.

The Adopt-A-Mouse campaign for Down Syndrome Research is a grassroots effort founded to directly support research focused on identifying individual genes responsible for impaired cognition in individuals with Down syndrome.  This targeted funding is designed to get money directly to laboratories focused on Down syndrome research and help them develop the science that may lead to treatments.

The concept behind the research we are seeking to support is straightforward:  Individuals with Down syndrome posses an extra copy of the 21st chromosome.  One theory holds that this extra chromosomal copy results in an excess of gene products and the resulting imbalance leads to many of the characteristics, including impaired cognition, that occur in individuals with Down Syndrome.   Various scientists are now pursuing multiple research approaches based on specialized mouse strains created with extra copies of genes homologous to those on human chromosome 21 to mimic some of the characteristics of Down syndrome.   For example, once individual, or groups of, genes with a critical role in Down syndrome can be identified, scientists can more specifically focus their efforts with the intent of developing treatments.  These treatments might very well include drugs designed to counteract any such “overproduced” gene product, thereby bringing cellular functions back to more appropriate levels and in the process improve cognition and/or influence proper development.

This is a critical time in Down syndrome research and you have the ability to make a measurable difference!!!

One of the major costs in terms of developing treatments to improve cognition in people with Down syndrome is the high cost of the Down syndrome mice. Each mouse costs roughly $500. This quickly adds up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in research expenses in one year’s time. To help offset these costs, we have established a charitable fund called the Adopt-a-Mouse campaign. The purpose of this fund is to receive donations that will go directly to funding more DS research. For your donation of $21 (analogous with the extra copy of the 21st chromosome in people with Down syndrome), you will receive a cute little stuffed mouse and the knowledge that you have done your part to further DS cognition research.

This is your chance to give to a charitable cause this is dedicated to developing treatments to improve the lives of everyone living with Down syndrome

To order your very own mouse, please send $21 plus $2.25 for shipping & handling to:

DSRTF
755 Page Mill Road, Suite A200
Palo Alto, CA 94304

-or-

Click here to order online