# First person – Destynie Medeiros

## TL;DR

Destynie Medeiros discusses her research on a small-molecule treatment that improves brain cell structures and behaviors in a mouse model of Rett syndrome.

## Contribution

The study introduces a new small-molecule TrkB ligand that shows therapeutic potential for Rett syndrome.

## Key findings

- The TrkB ligand improved dendritic spine phenotypes in Rett syndrome mice.
- The treatment reduced atypical behaviors in female Rett syndrome mice.
- The research highlights a potential therapeutic strategy for Rett syndrome.

## Abstract

First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Destynie Medeiros is first author on ‘
A small-molecule TrkB ligand improves dendritic spine phenotypes and atypical behaviors in female Rett syndrome mice’, published in DMM. Destynie is a PhD student in the lab of Lucas Pozzo-Miller at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA, investigating the dendritic spine and social behavior phenotypes in mouse models for Rett syndrome.