Three MD Centers of Excellence result from MDA-NIH collaboration

Three new “centers of excellence” in muscular dystrophy research are established at the University of Washington in Seattle, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Rochester (N.Y.), as a result of a collaborative funding arrangement between MDA and the National Institutes of Health.

Key mechanisms found in myotonic MD

MDA-funded groups discover that two types of proteins — transcription factors and muscleblind — are both interfered with in cells affected by myotonic muscular dystrophy. The findings lead to additional investigations at the newly established muscular dystrophy center of excellence at the University of Rochester (N.Y.), co-funded by MDA and the National Institutes of Health.

Gene found for rare form of ALS

MDA-backed researchers find the gene for a rare, juvenile-onset form of ALS. The gene, on chromosome 9, carries instructions for a protein called senataxin. The finding has clear implications for diagnosis of juvenile-onset ALS and may increase understanding of ALS in general.