March 26, 2024

Pedersen Lab awarded grant from PANDAS Network

Dr. Irene Pedersen has received a grant from the PANDAS Network to study the link between blood-brain barrier and pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric disorders associated with Streptococcus (PANDAS). Children with PANDAS have obsessive thoughts, compulsive behaviors and motor or vocal tics. Dr. Pedersen’s team will focus on identifying which genetic mutations in PANDAS patients are involved in PANDAS disease progression and explore the use of a 3D cell model to simulate the brain of children with PANDAS.

Read more here about the blood-brain barrier and how it might lead to novel therapy for children with PANDAS.

PANDAS sera makes brain blood vessels more leaky (image below). Adding sera from PANDAS patient (black bar in graph) to the blood vessel tubes for 24 hours followed by measuring the amount of green dye that leaked past the vessel wall. When compared to sera from healthy volunteers (control sera – grey bar), the amount of green tracer leaking past the blood vessel is significantly more than that from healthy volunteers.