Virtually every large drug company is testing experimental compounds they hope will alleviate its symptoms.

Dr. Parkin attributed much of his group's progress to the development of a rapid prototyping machine that allows researchers to test new compounds quickly for the memory cells.

Nevertheless, having an animal model is a tremendous step forward, because it allows the companies to test compounds before beginning clinical trials using humans.

Data from testing such compounds would go into "a freely accessible public database," Dr. Zerhouni said.

In that case, our next step would be to test potential compounds.

Dr. Burch's job is to test new compounds develped by Nova's chemists that would not be broken down so easily by the body.

Simulating the ocean vent conditions in the laboratory, the scientists tested various organic compounds.

From the numerous already synthesized and tested compounds that fulfilled these criteria the most promising candidates were pantoprazole and its salt, pantoprazole sodium.

The technology involved using electricity to test compounds that could later become new drugs.

Each are seeking to test compounds that have been previously approved for use in humans, but not as a therapeutic treatment for Angelman Syndrome.