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SUMMARY:How and why does an extra sex chromosome affect neurodevelopment? 
 - Professor Dorothy V. M. Bishop. Department of Experimental Psychology\, 
 University of Oxford\, UK
DTSTART:20150130T150000Z
DTEND:20150130T163000Z
UID:TALK56632@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Louise White
DESCRIPTION:In the 1960s several centres embarked on newborn screening stu
 dies to identify children with an extra X or Y chromosome\, with the aim o
 f identifying how this additional genetic material affected development. T
 he general conclusion was that verbal skills tended to be depressed in gir
 ls with trisomy X and in boys with Klinefelter’s syndrome (XXY) or XYY s
 yndrome. This is intriguing because most genetic conditions have a more ge
 neral effect on neurodevelopment\, rather than selectively impacting langu
 age. Cognitive profiles are quite variable both between and within the dif
 ferent groups\, but overall the effect of an additional sex chromosome is 
 far less severe than that of other trisomies. Research on this topic is di
 fficult to do because many cases go unidentified\, and neonatal screening 
 is no longer deemed ethical. However\, in the UK cases are identified in t
 he course of prenatal screening\, and some are also identified when chromo
 some studies are done as part of medical investigations. We conducted a st
 udy of such cases and confirmed a high rate of language impairment but als
 o found an increased rate of diagnosed autism spectrum disorder\, which ha
 d not been noticed in earlier research. Nevertheless\, there was a wide ra
 nge of outcomes and some children were doing well with no indication of an
 y problems at school or home. Currently we are doing a more in-depth inves
 tigation of language and related skills of a UK sample.\nOne question is w
 hether the extra sex chromosome has similar effects on language and social
  development\, regardless of whether the child has XXX\, XXY or XYY karyot
 ype\, or whether there are subtle differences in the cognitive profile. We
  are also interested in the wide variation from child to child\, and hope 
 that by studying relationships between genes and behavior we might be able
  to find out more about why some children make good progress while others 
 have more serious social or language problems. \n\nBrief biosketch\nDoroth
 y Bishop is a Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellow and Professor of De
 velopmental Neuropsychology at the University of Oxford\, where she heads 
 a programme of research into children’s communication impairments. Her m
 ain interests are in the nature and causes of developmental language impai
 rments\, with a particular focus on psycholinguistics\, neurobiology and g
 enetics. She is a supernumerary fellow of St John’s College Oxford\, as 
 well as a Fellow of the British Academy\, the Academy of Medical Sciences 
 and the Royal Society. As well as publishing in conventional academic outl
 ets\, she writes a popular blog (Bishopblog) with personal reactions to sc
 ientific and academic matters\, and she tweets as @deevybee. \n
LOCATION:Ground Floor Lecture Theatre\, Department of Psychology
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