A good start
Current medical technology is not yet able to repair deficient neurodevelopment in the anterior commissure, but it’s possible to attempt modifications in later stages.
Hsueh notes that local injections of D-cycloserine into the brain or the abdominal cavity are effective at improving social interaction, communication skills, learning, memory, and adaptive skills in mice.
D-cycloserine is a drug already used in clinical practice for treating tuberculosis. But further tests are needed to determine whether it’s suitable for treating autism and what side effects this antibiotic will have in the long term.
But what’s certain is that “the human brain is highly plastic,” says Hsueh. With maintenance and stimulation of neuronal activity through training, there’s a chance for improvement.
Gender balance in the lab
“There are lots of female scientists in the life sciences,” says Hsueh. In Taiwan, she has worked in settings with around the same number of women as men, and has never felt any gender imbalance. At the IMB, for instance, not only are the researchers about half men and half women, the director is a woman. And of Hsueh’s 12-person research team, only two are men.
Family is just as important as work to Hsueh. She is grateful for her husband’s and mother-in-law’s support.
“I give half the credit to my mother-in-law,” says Hsueh. Her post-doc advisor had encouraged her to continue working in the US, but Hsueh, unable to abide seeing her mother-in-law cooped up like a prisoner in the US, decided to move the whole family back to Taiwan. Since she moved back, it is only thanks to her mother-in-law’s help at home that Hsueh doesn’t have worry if she needs to work in the lab on the weekends to stay on schedule with her research.
With such staunch backing, this female scientist continues to work hard to help others.