MDA awards $13.5 million in grants for research treatments for neuromuscular diseases
The Muscular Dystrophy Association today awarded 44 grants totaling $13.5 million to support new research to advance understanding of disease processes and to uncover new strategies for treating muscular dystrophies, ALS and other related neuromuscular diseases affecting more than a million Americans. The vital research funding was made possible by generous public support of the MDA Labor Day Telethon.
"MDA-supported researchers have long led the way in advancing understanding of, and developing therapeutic strategies for, neuromuscular diseases," said noted pediatrician, human biochemical geneticist and MDA Chairman of the Board R. Rodney Howell, M.D. "With this most recent round of grants, the Association is spurring on the vital science that ultimately will put an end to a litany of devastating muscle diseases."
About the new grants
Of the 44 new awards, 37 will improve understanding of disease pathology for specific neuromuscular diseases (see list of 17 disorders targeted with this new round of MDA grants), or guide development of strategies for better diagnosis and treatment. Please click on any of the following links for investigator-specific releases. Seven italicized links are particularly notable projects:
Alabama
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
Georgia
Iowa
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Missouri
North Carolina
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
International
In addition to these 37 research grants, MDA also awarded seven training and development grants designed to increase the number of highly-qualified biomedical researchers working on neuromuscular diseases. Two of these, designated as clinical research training grants (CRTGs), were awarded to promising young physicians James Berry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston and Araya Puwanant, University of Rochester, New York. Furthermore, five career development grants were awarded to young neuromuscular disease investigators to facilitate their transition into independent researchers:
- Adrian Israelson, University of California, San Diego
- Chi Wai Lee, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta
- Jianming Liu, University of California, San Francisco
- Hao Shi, Yale University, New Haven
- John Lueck, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City
"MDA is pleased to support these young investigators and clinical researchers as they embark on their careers," said Valerie Cwik, M.D., MDA Executive Vice President for Research and Medical Director. "These bright physicians and scientists are the future leaders in our quest to defeat muscular dystrophy and related diseases."
Provided by Muscular Dystrophy Association
