Grants at a Glance — Winter 2012
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ALS - Brian Kraemer, Ph.D.
MDA has awarded a research grant totaling $316,557 over a period of three years to Brian Kraemer, a research biologist in the Geriatrics Research Education and Clinical Center at the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle.
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ALS - Claudio Hetz, Ph.D.
Claudio Hetz, full professor at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Chile in Santiago, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $217,500 over a period of three years. The funds will help support Hetz’ study of protein misfolding and mislocation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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ALS - Eric Huang, M.D., Ph.D.
MDA awarded a grant totaling $412,500 over a period of three years to Eric Huang, professor of neuropathology at the University of California in San Francisco. The funds will help support Huang’s work to create cellular and mouse models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that is caused by mutations in the fused in sarcoma (FUS) gene.
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ALS - Kenneth Hensley, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $328,153 over a period of three years to Kenneth Hensley, associate professor in the departments of pathology and neuroscience, and research director in the department of pathology at the University of Toledo Medical Center in Ohio. The funds will help support Hensley’s study of a potential new target and treatment strategy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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ALS - Terry Heiman-Patterson, M.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $330,000 over a period of three years to Terry Heiman-Patterson, section chief of neuromuscular disorders at Drexel University College of Medicine in Philadelphia. Heiman-Patterson also is medical director of the MDA/ALS Center of Hope at that institution.
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Cell Therapy - Ilona Skerjanc, Ph.D.
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.
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CMD - Mahasweta Girgenrath, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $357,465 over a period of three years to Mahasweta Girgenrath, an assistant professor in the Health Sciences Department at Boston University in Boston. The funds will help support Girgenrath’s work to find a combination therapy to treat type 1A congenital muscular dystrophy (MDC1A).
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CMD/LGMD - Jeffrey Miller, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $343,860 over a period of three years to Jeffrey Boone Miller, senior scientist at Boston Biomedical Research Institute in Watertown, Mass., and associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston. The funds will help support Miller’s study of the underlying causes of, and potential therapeutic strategies for, three muscular dystrophies: type 1A congenital muscular dystrophy (MDC1A/CMD), and types 2C and 2D limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD2C, LGMD2D).
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CMT - Charles Abrams, M.D., Ph.D.
Charles Abrams, an associate professor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $414,787 over a period of three years to study the role of connexin protein mutations in type 1X Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (X-linked CMT, or CMT1X).
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CMT - Garth Nicholson, M.D., Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $420,000 over three years to professor Garth Nicholson at the ANZAC Research Institute, University of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia.
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DD/LGMD - Robert Bloch, Ph.D.
MDA has awarded a research grant totaling $362,295 over a period of three years to Robert Bloch, a professor in the department of physiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. The funds will help support Bloch's study of the role of a protein called dysferlin in type 2B limb-girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD2B) and Distal muscular dystrophy (DD, or Miyoshi myopathy).
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DMD - Andrew Ho, Ph.D.
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). (MDA development grants are awarded to exceptional postdoctoral candidates who have the best chance of becoming independent researchers and future leaders of neuromuscular disease research.)
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DMD - Kay Davies, M.A., Ph.D.
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).
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DMD - Lawrence Steinman, M.D.
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.
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DMD - Robert Korneluk, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $425,952 over a period of three years to Robert Korneluk, director of the Apoptosis Research Centre at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, and distinguished professor at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada.
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DMD - Vladimir Ljubicic, Ph.D.
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 development grants are awarded to exceptional postdoctoral candidates who have the best chance of becoming independent researchers and future leaders of neuromuscular disease research.)
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DMD/BMD - David Thomas, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $390,000 over a period of three years to David Thomas, the William F. Dietrich Professor of Structural Biology and Biophysics at the Minnesota Muscle Laboratory, University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
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DMD/BMD - James Ervasti, Ph.D.
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.
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DMD/BMD - Julie Saba, M.D.
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.
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DMD/BMD - Nadine Wiper-Bergeron, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $312,422 over a period of three years to Nadine Wiper-Bergeron, assistant professor in the department of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of Ottowa in Ontario, Canada.
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DMD/BMD - Nick Menhart, Ph.D.
Nick Menhart, associate professor of biology at the Illinois Institute of Technology, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $265,251 over a period of three years to study the properties of modified dystrophin proteins in Duchenne (DMD) and Becker (BMD) muscular dystrophies.
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DMD/BMD - Pura Muñoz-Canoves, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $390,000 over a period of three years to Pura Muñoz-Canoves, ICREA research professor and cell biology coordinator at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. The funds will help support Muñoz-Cánoves' research into strategies aimed at reducing muscle scarring (fibrosis) in people with Duchenne (DMD) and Becker (BMD) muscular dystrophies.
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FSHD - Charles Emerson, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $600,000 over a period of three years to Charles Emerson, director and senior scientist at Boston Biomedical Research Institute in Watertown, Mass. The funds will help support Emerson’s efforts to identify genetic modifiers of the DUX4 gene; such modifiers potentially could become therapeutic targets in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSH, or FSHD).
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FSHD - Scott Harper, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $317,464 over a period of three years to Scott Harper, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Ohio State University College of Medicine in Columbus. The funds will help support Harper's work to develop a new mouse model of facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSH, or FSHD).
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FSHD - Silvère van der Maarel, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $256,470 over a period of two years to Silvère van der Maarel, professor of medical epigenetics, department of human genetics, at Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, the Netherlands. The funds will help support van der Maarel’s study of type 2 facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD2).
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IBM - Sanford Bernstein, Ph.D.
Sanford Bernstein, a professor of biology at San Diego State University in California, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $370,311 over a period of three years. The funds will help support Bernstein's research into the underlying molecular causes of, and potential treatments for, inclusion-body myopathy type 3 (IBM-3).
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Mito. Myopathy - Salvatore DiMauro, M.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $272,974 over a period of two years to Salvatore DiMauro, the Lucy G. Moses Professor of Neurology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. The funds will help support DiMauro’s research into developing a therapy designed to treat neutral lipid storage disease with myopathy (NLSDM), a mitochondrial myopathy.
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MG - Premkumar Christadoss, M.B.B.S.
Premkumar Christadoss, a professor in the department of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $390,000 over a period of three years to study the potential for gene therapy as a treatment in myasthenia gravis (MG).
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MMD - Laura Ranum, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $415,092 over a period of three years to Laura Ranum, professor of molecular genetics and microbiology at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
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MMD - Mani Mahadevan, M.D.
Mani Mahadevan, a professor at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville was awarded an MDA grant totaling $281,352 over a period of two years. The funds will help support Mahadevan's investigation into potential therapies for type 1 myotonic muscular dystrophy (MMD1, or DM1).
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Muscle Physiology - Chris Weihl, M.D., Ph.D.
Chris Weihl, assistant professor of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, was awarded an MDA grant totaling $397,064 over a period of three years. The funds will help support Weihl’s research into a process called autophagy in skeletal muscle. Data gleaned from Weihl’s studies may be applicable to a number of neuromuscular disorders including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and the muscular dystrophies; Weihl and colleagues will conduct their studies on a mouse model of myofibrillar myopathy (MFM).
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Muscle Physiology - Elizabeth Chen, Ph.D.
MDA has awarded a research grant totaling $321,489 over a period of three years to Elizabeth Chen, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. The funds will help support Chen's research into a mechanistic understanding of normal muscle physiology, which will inform potential therapeutic strategies aimed at treating various genetic and acquired degenerative muscle diseases.
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Pompe - Celine Baligand, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a development grant (DG) totaling $170,873 over three years to Celine Baligand, a postdoctoral associate at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville. The funds will help support Baligand's research into the use of various imaging techniques to help determine the natural progression of Pompe disease (acid maltase deficiency or AMD). (MDA development grants are awarded to exceptional postdoctoral candidates who have the best chance of becoming independent researchers and future leaders of neuromuscular disease research.)
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Pompe - Darin Falk, Ph.D.
Darin Falk, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of pediatrics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, has received an MDA development grant (DG) totaling $179,846 over three years. The funds will help support Falk's research into the potential for gene therapy as a treatment for Pompe disease (acid maltase deficiency or AMD). (MDA development grants are awarded to exceptional postdoctoral candidates who have the best chance of becoming independent researchers and future leaders of neuromuscular disease research.)
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Pompe - Eric Sjoberg, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $186,372 over a period of two years to Eric Sjoberg, principal scientist at Amicus Therapeutics in La Jolla, Calif. The funds will help support Sjoberg's research into immune system response associated with enzyme replacement therapy (ERT), the only approved treatment for Pompe disease (acid maltase deficiency or AMD).
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SMA - Christian Lorson, Ph.D.
MDA awarded a research grant totaling $381,582 over a period of three years to Christian Lorson, a professor in the departments of veterinary pathobiology, and molecular microbiology & immunology, at the University of Missouri in Columbia. The funds will help support Lorson’s research into targeting skeletal muscle as a therapeutic strategy in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
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SMA - Kentaro Sahashi, M.D., Ph.D.
Kentaro Sahashi, a postdoctoral research scientist at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., was awarded an MDA development grant (DG) totaling $180,000 over a period of three years to study the roles of the SMN protein in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). (MDA development grants are awarded to exceptional postdoctoral candidates who have the best chance of becoming independent researchers and future leaders of neuromuscular disease research.)
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SMA - Tomoyuki Awano, Ph.D.
Tomoyuki Awano, a postdoctoral research scientist in the department of pathology and cell biology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, was awarded an MDA development grant (DG) totaling $180,000 over a period of three years to search for genes that modify the onset and disease course of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). (MDA development grants are awarded to exceptional postdoctoral candidates who have the best chance of becoming independent researchers and future leaders of neuromuscular disease research.)
In December 2011, the MDA Board of Directors approved funding for 38 research projects targeting more than 15 neuromuscular diseases. These projects are part of the approximately 300 grants currently funded by MDA.
For an overview of grants awarded by MDA in December 2011, see:
For a complete list of the total grants currently being funded by MDA, view this PDF.
Grants at a Glance
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