NYSCF: Stem cell technology allows scientists to create the different cell types affected in Jordan's Syndrome as patient-specific models of the disease. Modeling Jordan’s Syndrome in a dish using stem cell technology enables scientists to study how the disease develops in different cell types and affects their behavior over time. For example, scientists can derive patient neurons from stem cells, and even combine different types of patient brain cells into 'mini-brains' known as organoids, to study how brain function and the interactions between different cells are affected in Jordan's Syndrome. By enabling a better understanding of the disease and clarifying the cellular and molecular defects driven by the genetic PPP2R5D mutations, stem cell technology may point to treatments that can fix these defects and therefore alleviate disease symptoms.

Stem cell technology also allows new drugs to be directly tested on affected cells or organoids, to see if they have a beneficial effect. This "clinical trial in a dish" approach can help to identify new treatments that may be helpful for certain patients and ineffective – or even potentially toxic – to others.

The cellular processes that go awry in Jordan's Syndrome may well be playing a role in several other diseases – for example, the gene implicated in Jordan’s syndrome is also associated with autism, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer. Stem cell technology has already advanced research into neurological diseases and cancer, just as we expect it will in Jordan's syndrome. A better understanding of what goes wrong in Jordan's Syndrome will help us understand how the processes in human development are supposed to work, and offer insights into other ways they go wrong in related diseases. There are mounting examples of rare disease research that have taught us something new about common diseases and how to treat them. So a new way to study the dozens of patients with Jordan's Syndrome could end up advancing knowledge and treatments for diseases that affect millions.