MDA Grantee Receives NIH Pioneer Award

MDA research grantee Thomas Rando, an associate professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurological Sciences at Stanford (Calif.) University, has received a 2005 Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The NIH Pioneer Award goes to exceptionally creative scientists who take innovative approaches to major challenges in biomedical research, supporting them with up to $500,000 per year for five years. Thirteen such awards were given out in 2005.

Rando, who's developing gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy that doesn't involve viral delivery vehicles, is also working on stem cells in tissue repair and regeneration, and has worked on gene repair strategies.