40 - Research on EDS in Animals: Dr. Heather Gray-Edwards and Dr. Abby McElroy

Hypermobility Happy Hour

On this episode, we have returning guest Dr. Abby McElroy who previously was a guest on the Hypermobility Happy Hour discussing EDS in animals. Today, she returns with her principal investigator Dr. Heather Gray-Edwards to discuss the exciting new research they have been working on. Dr. Gray-Edwards is an assistant professor of Radiology at the University of Massachusetts’ Chan Medical School and is a member of the Horae Gene Therapy Center. Much of her research has been focused on evaluating therapeutic interventions in testing novel Adeno-associated viral vectors and delivery routes using both biochemical and molecular biology techniques, as well as in vitro evaluation like neurological examinations, MRIs, and electrodiagnostics of GM1 and GM2 gangliosidosis cats. Dr. McElroy is a doctoral student who previously received her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Tufts University in 2017. She further obtained a master’s degree from Michigan State University in 2018 which focused on the characterization of neurological abnormalities in an equine model of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. From 2018 to 2021, Dr. McElroy was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Neurosurgery at Rhode Island Hospital and the Medical School of Brown University where she studied tethered cord syndrome and myodural bridge dysfunction in patients with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. In her current position at the Gray-Edwards laboratory at the University of Massachusetts’ Chan Medical School focuses on the development of gene therapy for Ehlers-Danlos syndromes and multisystemic smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome (related to the ACTA2 mutation). Abby also has two cats and two dogs and one of her cats has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and is a bit of a social media star in his own right (his name is Reed and you can follow him at reed_eds)