Aging in mothers who carry the FMR1 premutation
Aging Symptom Trajectories in Mother Carriers of the FMR1 Premutation
This project follows mothers who carry the FMR1 premutation over time to see how mood, thinking, and social skills change as they get older.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of South Carolina at Columbia NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Columbia, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11323095 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You'll be invited to join a long-term project that compares mothers who carry the FMR1 premutation with mothers who do not. Researchers will ask you to complete questionnaires and cognitive and social functioning tests, and will collect measures of autonomic function and molecular/genetic markers. The team will repeat these visits across midlife into early older age to map how symptoms change over time instead of relying on single check-ins. Those symptom patterns will be linked to biological measures to help explain why some carrier mothers have earlier or more severe decline.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adult women who carry the FMR1 premutation, especially those in midlife or early older age who can attend repeated study visits.
Not a fit: People who do not carry the FMR1 premutation, or those seeking immediate treatment rather than long-term monitoring, are unlikely to receive direct benefit from this project.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help identify early signs of age-related decline in carrier mothers and guide timing of medical care and caregiving support for families.
How similar studies have performed: Previous cross-sectional studies have suggested premature age-related problems in carrier mothers, but long-term longitudinal evidence is limited, so this work builds on suggestive but not definitive prior findings.
Where this research is happening
Columbia, United States
- University of South Carolina at Columbia — Columbia, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Klusek, Jessica — University of South Carolina at Columbia
- Study coordinator: Klusek, Jessica
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.