Hi there!

My name is "Jim" and I have Smith-Magenis Syndrome. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Katherine Walz and Dr. James Lupski and others in the Lupski laboratory, researchers have developed mice with SMS. The mice live in Houston at the Baylor College of Medicine. Researchers at Baylor are studying the mice to help them better understand SMS.

Our hope is that these small animals will give researchers greater perspective on the biological basis of SMS. In addition, the mice will allow them to study behavior and abnormalities of the nervous system in great detail and in a great number of "subjects" with the ultimate goal of improving the lifestyle of persons who are born with this chromosome deletion.

To learn more about SMS research at Baylor College of Medicine, visit their website at http://www.imgen.bcm.tmc.edu/molgen/lupski/sms/Index-SMS.htm