MDA awarded a research grant totaling $308,061 over a period of three years to Lawrence Steinman, Zimmerman Chair and professor of neurology, neurosciences and pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, Calif. The funds will help support Steinman’s work to inhibit immune system response to replacement of the missing dystrophin protein in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Senior scientist Julie Saba, at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute in Oakland, Calif., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $392,467 over a period of three years. The funds will help support Saba’s research into enhancing muscle regeneration and muscle stem cell functions as a new strategy for treating Duchenne (DMD) and Becker (BMD) muscular dystrophies.

MDA awarded a research grant totaling $260,000 over a period of two years to Professor Dame Kay Davies, Dr. Lee’s Professor of Anatomy in the department of physiology, anatomy and genetics at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The funds will help support Davies’ development of an effective therapy applicable to all people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

MDA awarded a research grant totaling $280,487 over a period of two years to Ilona Skerjanc, a professor in the department of biochemistry, microbiology & immunology at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada.

James Ervasti, professor of biochemistry, molecular biology & biophysics at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $390,000 over a period of three years to help support his research into improving two therapies currently in development for people with Duchenne (DMD) and Becker (BMD) muscular dystrophies.

Vladimir Ljubicic, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada, was awarded an MDA development grant (DG) totaling $180,000 over a period of three years for his investigation into potential therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

MDA has awarded a development grant totaling $180,000 over a period of three years to Andrew Ho, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine in Stanford, Calif. The funds will help support Ho's study of human muscle stem cell regulation and the potential for stem-cell-based therapies in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).