On April 16, 2003, a press conference was held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. to announce the discovery of the Progeria gene. Leading the announcement was PRF Medical Director Dr. Leslie Gordon. The panel of speakers included Dr. Francis Collins, Head of the Human Genome Project, Dr. W. Ted Brown, world expert on Progeria, and John Tacket, PRF’s Youth Ambassador.

“This is an exciting day for me and my friends”, said John Tacket as he addressed reporters.

The story was reported by Reuters, AP and UPI, appearing in virtually every major newspaper in the United States and People magazine. Television coverage included CNN, The Today Show, and ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX affiliate stations throughout the country. Internet coverage included on-line reports from dozens of newspaper and television stations.

The Eriksson, et. al. paper, published in the journal Nature, was also reported in 2 other leading scientific journals: Science News, and the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Recurrent de novo point mutations in Lamin A cause Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome, Vol. 423, May 15, 2003, Nature

Mutation causes early-aging syndrome, Vol. 163, p.260, April 26, 2003, Science News

Cause of Progeria’s Premature Aging Found; expected to Provide Insight into Normal Aging Process, Vol. 289 no.19, pp.2481-82, May 21, 2003 JAMA

A special thank you goes out to the entire staff of Spectrum Science Public Relations of Washington, DC for their extraordinary and tireless work on behalf of PRF

Members of Spectrum’s “Team Progeria” with PRF Executive Director Audrey Gordon,
PRF Board Member Dr. Scott Berns, and Drs. Gordon, Brown and Collins