Announcing the 2025 Hydrocephalus Association Accelerator Award Recipient
The Hydrocephalus Association is excited to announce the recipient of our 2025 Accelerator Award, which supports bold research ideas that could lead to preventing hydrocephalus or creating new, non-surgical treatment options. This award helps scientists move their work to the next step—whether that means progressing from lab studies to animal research or building the foundation for future clinical trials.
This year, we are proud to fund Dr. Thomas Arnold, MD, an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, for his project titled: “A role for choline in congenital hydrocephalus.”
What is this research about?
Congenital hydrocephalus (CH) affects infants before they are born and often requires lifelong treatment. Dr. Arnold studies two genes—FLVCR1 and FLVCR2—that help transport choline, an important nutrient for healthy brain development, from the mother to the baby during pregnancy. Babies with mutations in either of these genes can develop hydrocephalus, but we still don’t fully understand why.
Dr. Arnold’s early research suggests that when these genes do not work correctly, the developing brain may not receive enough choline. This could disrupt brain growth and lead to hydrocephalus.
What will this project do?
Dr. Arnold’s team will:
-
Track how choline moves from the mother to the baby’s brain, comparing healthy mice to mice with the same FLVCR1 and FLVCR2 genetic mutations seen in babies with CH.
-
Test whether giving pregnant mice extra choline through their diet can prevent signs of hydrocephalus in their offspring.
Why is this important?
If successful, this project could reveal a new biological cause of congenital hydrocephalus and point to a possible non-surgical, nutrition-based therapy. This could one day help families facing CH and reduce reliance on surgical treatments.
The Hydrocephalus Association remains dedicated to supporting innovative science that brings us closer to better—and less invasive—treatment options for our community.