
Hope Through Research
At MDA, we take a big picture perspective across the full spectrum of neuromuscular diseases to uncover scientific and medical breakthroughs that accelerate treatments and cures. The power in our research approach is that we can often apply learnings from one disease to progress in others to bring urgently-needed answers to our families.
Grants at a Glance - Summer 2011
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SMA — Lisa Baumbach, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)“Baumbach (front, right) with the other members of the lab team that discovered the X-linked gene for spinal muscular atr...”
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Myopathies — Alan Beggs, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Endocrine Myopathies“Alan Beggs and colleagues will identify gene mutations in zebrafish that cause congenital myopathies and will screen peo...”
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Periodic Paralysis — Stephen Cannon, M.D., Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Ion Channel Diseases““With years of support,” Cannon said, “our MDA-sponsored work progressed from establishing the functional abnormal...”
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DMD/BMD — Martin Childers, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Childers and colleagues will derive dystrophin-deficient heart cells from the skin cells of people with Duchenne MD, and...”
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ALS — Don Cleveland, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)“Cleveland expects his new studies to show “whether any benefit from increased mitochondrial activity is shared among m...”
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DMD/BMD — Peter Currie, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Currie and colleagues will test molecules with possible therapeutic relevance for Duchenne or Becker muscular dystrophy ...”
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DMD — Diego Fraidenraich, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Fraidenraich and colleagues will probe the differences between the development of muscle tissue and the development of f...”
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LGMD/IBM — Alfred Goldberg, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD)“Members of Goldberg's research team study muscle cell cultures in the lab.”
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ALS — Raymond Grill, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)“"The study of ALS is a new focus for my laboratory," Grill said. "In fact, the idea tested in this MDA-funded proposal a...”
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DMD/BMD — Emanuela Gussoni, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Immature muscle fibers called myotubes (green) and their nuclei (blue) developed from MCAM-producing cells extracted fro...”
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CCD/MH — Susan Hamilton, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Endocrine Myopathies“Researchers in Hamilton's lab, postdoctoral fellow Adan Dagnino-Acosta (left) and graduate student Joshua Oakes, measure...”
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Muscle Physiology — Samantha Harris, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)“Shown in green is myosin binding protein C. The red bands indicate another protein, called myomesin. Each green and red ...”
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ALS — Vasanthi Jayaraman, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)““This illustration depicts the structure of the agonist binding domain of the AMPA receptor with attached fluorophores...”
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DMD/BMD — Tejvir Khurana, M.D., Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Tejvir Khurana and colleagues will see whether they can increase production of the utrophin protein in mice with a disea...”
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ALS — Jasna Kriz, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)“This photo of a living “SOD1 mutant reporter mouse” illustrates a 3-dimensional representation of early neuronal str...”
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FSHD — Michael Kyba, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSH, FSHD)“Kyba displays a plate that shows the results of testing on different inhibitors for DUX4. The inhibitors are candidate t...”
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ALS — Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne, M.D., Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)“"It is our hope," Lagier-Tourenne said,"that understanding of TDP43 and FUS normal functions and pathogenic [disease-cau...”
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ALS — Clotilde Lagier-Tourenne, M.D., Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)“"It is our hope," Lagier-Tourenne said,"that understanding of TDP43 and FUS normal functions and pathogenic [disease-cau...”
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ALS — Youngjin Lee, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)“Lee looks at a readout that shows presence of MCT-1 protein as verified by a protein-identifying technique called wester...”
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LGMD/DD — Jennifer Levy, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy (LGMD)“Jennifer Levy will study muscle-fiber membrane repair mechanisms in dysferlin-deficient muscles.”
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FA — David Lynch, M.D., Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Friedreich's Ataxia (FA)“Lynch's research team will use a process called frataxin dipstick testing in its studies to determine the relationship b...”
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DMD/BMD — Paul Martin, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Paul Martin at Nationwide Children's Hospital and Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, will investigate the possible...”
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MM - Mito. Myopathy - Carlos Moraes
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Mitochondrial Myopathies (MM)“"We have found that an increase in mitochondrial biogenesis [increased production of mitochondria, the "energy factories...”
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DMD — Jasprina Noordermeer, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Jasprina Noordermeer (right) is studying the role of dystrophin in the brain with co-investigator Lee Fradkin (left). Du...”
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Muscle Physiology — Kristen Nowak, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)“Nowak's research team previously received MDA funding to test whether cardiac (heart) actin could ameliorate skeletal mu...”
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CMD — Sonja Nowotschin, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Congenital Muscular Dystrophy (CMD)“Nowotschin and colleagues are studying mouse embryos to probe the origins of muscles and muscle defects. Here, Nowotschi...”
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MM - Mito. Myopathy — Edward Owusu-Ansah, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Mitochondrial Myopathies (MM)“Owusu-Ansah has established a fruit fly research model designed to enable his research team to study the molecular under...”
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DMD/BMD — Terence Partridge, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Terence Partridge at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., will measure exactly what happens in the mo...”
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DMD - Grace Pavlath, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Skeletal muscle is composed of myofibers, which are long cylindrical cells. When myofibers are injured, they can degener...”
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SBMA — Maria Pennuto, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Spinal-Bulbar Muscular Atrophy (SBMA)“"Cells and mouse models represent useful means to study the mechanisms of disease, and to develop new potential therapeu...”
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MM - Mito. Myopathy — Pere Puigserver, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Mitochondrial Myopathies (MM)“"In these studies," Puigserver said, "we hope to find new targets and potential cures for neuromuscular diseases, partic...”
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FSHD — Fedik Rahimov, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSH, FSHD)“Rahimov analyzes FSHD-affected muscle cells under the microscope. Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSH or FSHD)”
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DMD/BMD — Thomas Rando, M.D., Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Thomas Rando and colleagues will investigate how scar tissue forms in the muscles of mice with a disease mimicking Duche...”
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FA — Des Richardson, Ph.D., D.Sc.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Friedreich's Ataxia (FA)“Richardson (back, right) and colleagues, aim to obtain new information regarding the function of frataxin protein, a def...”
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DMD/BMD — Michael Rudnicki, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Rudnicki and his team are studying satellite stem cells, a type of muscle precursor cell that does not function properly...”
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DMD/BMD — Alessandra Sacco, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Alessandra Sacco, at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., will investigate whether transplant...”
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DMD/BMD — Melissa Spencer, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Melissa Spencer's research is focused on inflammation and scar-tissue formation in dystrophin-deficient muscles and on t...”
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MD — Kathryn Wagner, M.D., Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Metabolic Myopathies“Kathryn Wagner's group will investigate whether the protein myostatin coaxes muscle stem cells away from becoming muscle...”
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FSHD — Eric Wagner, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSH, FSHD)“With Wagner’s reporter system, inhibition of DUX4 expression in cells can be monitored. The top panels show the amount...”
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ALS — Junping Xin, Ph.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)“Xin works at the Bioplex System to determine alterations in pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokine profiles in the SOD1 mut...”
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DMD — Margaret Zacharin, M.D.
Grant Announced: Summer 2011Disease Type: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD)“Margaret Zacharin (left) and Craig Munns (right) will investigate the effects of zoledronic acid, a bisphosphonate, on b...”