Ruud Toonen and Claudia Persoon have joined an European collaborative project, subsidized by the dutch research council (ZonMw), focused on accelerating therapeutic development for rare neurodevelopmental disorders through drug repurposing strategies.
The HypoGluTx project centers on disorders associated with genes including GRIN2B, SHANK3, STXBP1, and CACNG2, which converge on disrupted glutamatergic neurotransmission. By targeting this shared biological mechanism, the consortium aims to identify scalable treatment strategies across genetically distinct conditions.
Neurospector contributes its platform of human iPSC-derived neuronal models and high-content functional readouts to evaluate compound efficacy in a clinically relevant context. The project will assess both established compounds and new candidates identified through data-driven approaches, prioritizing molecules with known safety profiles to enable rapid translation.
“We see this as a step toward a new generation of precision therapies, where shared biology across rare disorders can unlock broader impact for patients,” says Claudia Persoon, Head of Neurospector.
This collaboration highlights Neurospector’s role as a translational partner in bridging discovery science and preclinical drug development, supporting the generation of IND-ready data packages for rare neurological indications.