FD Experts Visit Brazil

Researchers from the Dysautonomia Center travel to Brazil as guest lecturers on FD

Horacio Kaufmann MD, Felicia B. Axelrod MD, Lucy Norcliffe-Kaufmann PhD
and Jose Martinez MSc visit hospital and attend AAS/ISAN conference.

Dr. Horacio Kaufmann spoke at Albert Einstein Medical Center in Sao Paulo to provide an update on recent scientific advancements in FD. His lecture was attended by local physicians and psychologists all involved in the care of Brazil’s patients with FD as well as molecular biologists and families of FD patients.

The team then headed off to the joint meeting of the American Autonomic Society and International Society for Autonomic Neuroscience in Buzios. The meeting was attended by over 400 clinicians and basic scientists who focus their research on autonomic disorders. Dr. Kaufmann hosted a special symposium entitled “Afferent Baroreflex Failure: From Molecules to Man”. The session ended with a lecture from Dr. Lucy Norcliffe-Kaufmann describing the history, genetics and pathophysiology of familial dysautonomia.

The team also presented two posters describing their work in FD. The first, presented the work of Miguel Perez, showing how accurately measurements of CO2 taken from the nasal cannula in the lab reflect the levels measured in arterial blood. The second poster described the finding that dopamine levels are elevated in patients with FD during dysautonomic crisis. Their abstracts were published in the journals Clinical Autonomic Research and Autonomic Neuroscience.

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