2013 Kate Foundation Ornaments!

We're excited to announce the 2013 Kate Foundation Glass Ornament Collection! The ornaments are now available for purchase on our website and will begin shipping out on November 25! Thank you!

http://www.katefoundation.org/buy_2013_ornaments.html

Sound, Sound Everywhere

Kate was off from school today, so we went down to one of our favorite breakfast places for pancakes. They often have jazz music playing two notches too loud on their ceiling speakers. If you have the misfortune of sitting directly beneath one of the speakers, it’s three notches too loud. Kate can have trouble being in spaces where there’s too much going on, particularly louder spaces. Her breathing deteriorates and her motor skills fall apart. The staff at the cafe has gotten to know us and they’ll turn it down (a little) when we ask them. However, it’s really made us notice a larger trend – that many public places have become artificially loud. “Can you stop the whining and go find another breakfast place?” isn’t an unreasonable question to ask. But what we’re finding is a growing number of everyday public spaces we go to inject some level of floating music or TV noise into the background: department stores, grocery stores, restaurants. During routine car maintenance last week, our car dealership had a gory re-run of ‘Criminal Minds’ on the TV in their waiting room. At 9:30 in the morning. So a humble plea to all business owners everywhere – a little softer please, if possible. Just two notches maybe. Or three.

"I Was Raised to Treat Others How You'd Want to be Treated"

Goodbye Winter

Eventually our driveway was unearthed.  But not before the shovel broke in half.  Goodbye Winter 2012-2013.

Activating the X

Angelman syndrome is a neurological disorder that shares multiple symptoms with Rett syndrome including motor dysfunction, seizures, and communication impairment. In 1997, researchers identified the faulty gene that causes Angelman syndrome, called UBE3A. All children inherit a UBE3A gene from their mother and their father, however, the father’s UBE3A gene is naturally silenced. Angelman syndrome occurs when the working UBE3A gene inherited from the mother is mutated or deleted, leaving no gene to produce the needed UBE3A protein.

In 2011, Ben Philpot, Ph.D. of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC) and his colleagues discovered a drug that can turn “on” the silenced paternal copy of the UBE3A gene in mice. Using a class of drugs called topoisomerase inhibitors, the researchers were able to activate the silenced gene in the neurons of mice. Activating a silenced gene with a drug/compound had never been accomplished before and is considered a breakthrough in neurological research science.

Inspired by the success of this work and its potential application to Rett syndrome science, the Rett Syndrome Research Trust (RSRT) has made a $2.2 million commitment to Dr. Philpot’s UNC team to apply the same drug discovery methodology used in the Angelman screens to find a drug or drugs capable of activating the healthy, dormant MECP2 gene in Rett syndrome. Your generous purchases and donations to the Kate Foundation have contributed directly to the funding of this work. Thank you again.

Table Full of Rett Citron

Rett Citron before they're packed in individual boxes.

2012 Ornaments Released!

We appreciate so many people being so supportive of the new ornaments and our campaign. The Kate Foundation website is now updated and active to receive new orders for the 2012 ornaments. Thank you again!

The link is here:   http://www.katefoundation.org/buy_2012_ornaments.html