Rett Syndrome: NICHD Research Information

Intellectual and developmental disabilities, including Rett syndrome, are a significant focus of the NICHD’s support for research. The NICHD has supported research on Rett syndrome for the past 25 years and continues to do so in the hope of learning how to slow, stop, and ultimately reverse its effects. The NICHD supported the researchers who in 1999 discovered that a mutation of the MECP2 gene causes Rett syndrome.