Summary
Newborns, infants and children with Down syndrome (DS) often develop respiratory problems due to abnormal lung development and high blood pressures within lung blood vessels (pulmonary hypertension), which causes many heart and breathing problems and sometimes even death. We will investigate why children with DS are at high risk for developing such diseases by studying the role of genes that respond to low oxygen levels in an animal model of DS. The findings of this study will improve our understanding of lung blood vessel problems caused by genetic imbalance in children with DS and will likely lead to new therapeutic drug development in the future.