Just a few weeks ago my husband and several of his collaborators held a conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, as part of a Spotlight Award from Frontiers, which was a very great honor for everyone involved. The conference was called Limitless! Augmentation of Brain Function. As you would imagine, much of the work presented in the conference focused around improving brain function, be it in relation to normal aging, senility, or even neurodevelopmental conditions.

Given my personal and professional investment in the study of neurodevelopmental conditions like autism, my favorite talk was given by Dr. Maria del Mar Dierrssen who works at the Center for Genomic Regulation in Spain. Her lecture focused on the treatment potential of green tea extract (specifically, a catechin within the extract called epigallocatechin-3-gallate or EGCG) on conditions like Down syndrome and Fragile X syndrome. So far, her lab has made some pretty impressive discoveries in…