Registry Seeks Participants with Congenital Muscle Disorders

An international patientregistry (database) is gathering information about children and adults with any form of congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD), a congenital myasthenic syndrome or a congenital myopathy (congenital muscle disease), with the goals of promoting research and improving care in these disorders.

New Guidelines on Genetic Testing in Children

As scientists learn more about what our DNA can tell us about health and disease, public interest has intensified and genetic testing has become increasingly common. In response, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) have released new guidelines to address updated technologies and new uses of genetic testing and screening in children.

Strong Community Support Essential to Passage of Critical Muscular Dystrophy Legislation

Note: The MD CARE Act is a critical part of the historic effort to find cures for muscular dystrophies. Watch for articles in the coming weeks that delve further into the remarkable progress attributable to this important legislation.

$13.6 Million in New MDA Grants Promote Understanding, Treatment of Neuromuscular Diseases

The Muscular Dystrophy Association has awarded 44 new grants totaling $13.6 million to advance the understanding and treatment of neuromuscular diseases. The new grants, most of which took effect Feb. 1, encompass a range of diseases covered by MDA’s research program, and they support innovative approaches to basic research and new drug development.

In addition to addressing 16 specific neuromuscular diseases under MDA’s umbrella, the grants also fund research into muscular dystrophy in general, and research into muscle physiology related to neuromuscular disease.

CMD, LGMD — Sebahattin Cirak, M.D.

Sebahattin Cirak, pending assistant professor at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., was awarded an MDA development grant totaling $180,000 over a period of three years to hunt for elusive genes that cause congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD) and limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD).

BMD, DMD — Linda Baum, M.D., Ph.D.

Linda Baum, professor and vice chair of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $405,000 over a period of three years to study molecules on the muscle surface that regulate important aspects of cellular communication and survival.

In Focus: Straightening the Growing Spine

Payton Mueller's parent knew something was amiss by the time he was 9 months old.

Nationwide Children’s Podcast Explores the Congenital Muscular Dystrophies

 

In a September 2012 podcast from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, pediatric neurologist and MDA grantee Francesco Muntoni discusses recent advances in the understanding of congenital muscular dystrophies (CMD).

MDA Commits $10.7 Million to Neuromuscular Disease Research

The Muscular Dystrophy Association has awarded 33 new grants totaling $10,684,481 to fund research projects focused on uncovering the causes of, and developing therapies for, neuromuscular disease.

MDA's Board of Directors reviewed and approved the new grants based on recommendations from the Association's Scientific and Medical Advisory Committees, and the grants took effect Aug. 1.

CMD — Madhuri Hegde, Ph.D.

Madhuri Hegde, associate professor and scientific director at Emory Genetics Laboratory, Emory University in Atlanta, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $262,928 over two years to identify genes that, when mutated, cause congenital muscular dystrophy (CMD).

A significant number of CMD-associated genes have been identified, but in approximately 30 to 40 percent of occurrences of the disease the causative gene remains unknown.

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