What Happened To Iron Research?

[Oozz]

Research into brain iron regulation in RLS seems to drop off a cliff in mid 2010’s. Any insight on what happened?

Did they think it was a dead-end?

Rustsmith - you are probably the only one reading this. Any insight?

[Rustsmith]

There is research that is still going on (or at least it was until recently). Most of the work following Dr Ferre's work that identified the connection between iron and the adenosine receptors has focused on the mechanism of iron transport across the blood-brain barrier. It turns out that the process is far more complicated and involved than had been expected, so it may take more time to clarify exactly what is happening. And, even if they get to the point where it is understood, translating it into lay language may turn out to be virtually impossible. I am a professor of chemical engineering whose specialty emphasizes iron chemistry and even I had trouble understanding what the last article that I read was proposing.

[badnights]

Research into brain iron regulation in RLS seems to drop off a cliff in mid 2010’s. Any insight on what happened?

Did they think it was a dead-end?

Just off the top of my head, there were not that many people looking into iron. There were Allen and Early, but Allen has passed away, and Early I think is retired??, and there was Jim Connor doing research on iron transport across the bbb, but I haven't seen anything from him for a while.

The main problem is there needs to be incentives for people to choose to research these topics, and the Foundation is the only funder I know of that specifies that research be focused on WED/RLS. But the Foundation only gets a small amount of money from memberships and donations, and has to divide that between awareness and research, both of which are very important. What is going to make a post-doc in a lab somewhere choose to research WED/RLS instead of anything else? There needs to be more money dedicated specifically to WED/RLS research.

[ViewsAskew]

The main problem is there needs to be incentives for people to choose to research these topics, and the Foundation is the only funder I know of that specifies that research be focused on WED/RLS. But the Foundation only gets a small amount of money from memberships and donations, and has to divide that between awareness and research, both of which are very important. What is going to make a post-doc in a lab somewhere choose to research WED/RLS instead of anything else? There needs to be more money dedicated specifically to WED/RLS research.

THIS!

[Polar Bear]

Absolutely !