Grants at a Glance — Winter 2013
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ALS — Daniela Zarnescu, Ph.D.
Daniela Zarnescu, associate professor of molecular and cellular biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $405,000 over a period of three years to investigate whether anti-diabetic drugs may reduce the death of muscle-controlling nerve cells called motor neurons in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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ALS — Fenghua Hu, Ph.D.
Fenghua Hu, research scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $360,000 over a period of three years to study the effects of TDP43 gene mutations in a model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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ALS — Giovanni Manfredi, M.D., Ph.D.
Giovanni Manfredi, professor of neurology and neuroscience at Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York, N.Y., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $355,317 over a period of three years to study whether calcium imbalance in nervous system support cells called astrocytes contributes to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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ALS — Heather Durham, Ph.D.
Heather Durham, professor at the Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University in Quebec, Canada, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $355,936 over a period of three years to study the consequences of mutations in the FUS gene for muscle-controlling nerve cells called motor neurons.
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ALS — Jeffrey Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D.
Jeffrey Rothstein, professor of neurology and neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $392,706 over a period of three years to study the most common genetic cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), using cells derived from patient skin samples.
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ALS — Li Niu, Ph.D.
Li Niu, professor and chair of chemistry at the State University of New York at Albany, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $405,000 over a period of three years to develop new drugs as potential therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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ALS — Mohamed Farah, Ph.D.
Mohamed Farah, assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $375,000 over a period of three years to test drugs in models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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ALS — Sunitha Rangaraju, Ph.D.
Sunitha Rangaraju, a postdoctoral research scientist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., was awarded an MDA development grant totaling $180,000 over a period of three years to determine whether compounds that slow certain aspects of aging may be therapeutic in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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ALS — Xin Wang, Ph.D.
Xin Wang, assistant professor of neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $405,000 over a period of three years to identify and test novel drug candidates for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
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ALS, CMT — Martha Bhattacharya, Ph.D.
Martha Bhattacharya, a postdoctoral research scholar in developmental biology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., was awarded an MDA development grant totaling $180,000 over a period of three years to study how and why axons degenerate.
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ALS, IBM — Benoit Coulombe, Ph.D.
Benoit Coulombe, director of the Proteomics and Gene Transcription Laboratory at the University of Montréal in Quebec, Canada, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $377,067 over a period of three years to study the regulation of a protein whose gene, when mutated, can cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and inclusion-body myositis (IBM).
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ALS, IBM — Eric Ross, Ph.D.
Eric Ross, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $363,000 over a period of three years to study proteins whose aggregation causes neurodegeneration.
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ALS, IBM — Hong Joo Kim, Ph.D.
Hong Joo Kim, a postdoctoral fellow at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., was awarded an MDA development grant totaling $180,000 over a period of three years to study new genes for a newly recognized disorder called multisystem proteinopathy (MSP).
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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.
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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).
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CMS — Michael Linhoff, Ph.D.
Michael Linhoff, a postdoctoral fellow at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, Ore., was awarded an MDA development grant totaling $119,944 over a period of two years to study neuromuscular junction defects in congenital myasthenic syndrome (CMS).
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CMT — Ronald K. Liem, Ph.D.
Ronald Liem, professor of pathology and cell biology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, N.Y., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $318,264 over a period of three years to study the progression of disease in a mouse model of type 2E Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease.
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CMT — Vera Fridman, M.D.
Vera Fridman, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, was awarded an MDA clinical research training grant totaling $180,000 over a period of two years to the effects of Serine in people with a form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease called hereditary sensory and autonomic neuropathy type 1 (HSAN1).
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DM — Matthew Disney, Ph.D.
Matthew Disney, associate professor of chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Fla., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $362,724 over a period of three years to test the ability of compounds he has developed to target the toxic RNA in myotonic dystrophy type 2 (MMD2, also known as DM2).
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DMD — Deok-Ho Kim, Ph.D.
Deok-Ho Kim, assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington in Seattle, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $390,000 over a period of three years to develop better techniques for growing muscle for use in transplantation into a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
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DMD — Eric Hoffman, Ph.D.
Eric Hoffman, director of the Research Center for Genetic Medicine at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $321,659 over a period of three years to study whether a process called asynchronous repair contributes to muscle degeneration in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
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DMD — Gordon Lynch, Ph.D.
Gordon Lynch, head of the department of physiology at The University of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $405,000 over a period of three years to study the potential of heat shock proteins for treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Heat shock proteins help cells fold other proteins properly, and deal with stresses from a variety of sources. The new grant complements previous MDA-funded research by Lynch into strategies aimed at improving muscle function in DMD.
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DMD — Joan Taylor, Ph.D.
Joan Taylor, associate professor of pathology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $396,000 over a period of three years to study how muscle cells repair damaged membranes.
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DMD — Kay Davies, M.A., Ph.D.
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, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $207,566 over a period of two years to conduct a drug screen for molecules that can increase levels of a protein called utrophin, which can be developed for clinical trials in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
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DMD — Madhuri Hegde, Ph.D.
Madhuri Hegde, executive director of the genetics laboratory and associate professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga., was awarded a one-year MDA research grant totaling $84,924 to advance methods for newborn screening (NBS) for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
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DMD — Matthew Alexander, Ph.D.
Matthew Alexander, a postdoctoral research fellow in genetics and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Mass., was awarded an MDA development grant totaling $180,000 over a period of three years to study the role of microRNAs in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
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DMD, BMD — Joseph Beavo, Ph.D.
Joseph Beavo, professor of pharmacology at the University of Washington in Seattle was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $412,500 over a period of three years to study how the drug sildenafil acts to improve the function of heart muscle in animal models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
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DMD, General MD — Radbod Darabi, M.D., Ph.D.
Radbod Darabi, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $380,049 over a period of three years to develop methods to use cells derived from skin to regenerate muscle tissue in a model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
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FA — Marek Napierala, Ph.D.
Marek Napierala, assistant professor of molecular carcinogenesis at the MD Anderson Cancer Center of the University of Texas, Smithville, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $320,451 over a period of three years to develop new models of Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) and explore new therapeutic approaches for the disease.
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FA — Mark Payne, M.D.
Mark Payne, professor of pediatrics and medical and molecular genetics at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $298,048 over a period of two years to study ways to overcome the vulnerability of heart muscle in Friedreich’s ataxia (FA).
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FSHD — Michael Kyba, Ph.D.
Michael Kyba, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $358,227 over a period of three years to study muscle developmental deficits in facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD). The new grant complements previous MDA-funded work by Kyba to identify and test experimental therapies in FSHD.
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FSHD — Rabi Tawil, M.D.
Rabi Tawil, professor of neurology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y., was awarded a one-year MDA research grant totaling $92,222 to develop a biomarker for facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD).
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LGMD — Noah Weisleder, Ph.D.
Noah Weisleder, associate professor of physiology and cell biology at Ohio State University in Columbus, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $405,000 over a period of three years to study muscle repair for development of treatment for limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMD).
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Laing Distal Myopathy — Leslie Leinwand, Ph.D.
Leslie Leinwand, professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $338,775 over a period of three years to study the causes and treatment of Laing distal myopathy (MPD1).
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MG — David Richman, M.D.
David Richman, professor of neurology at the University of California, Davis, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $412,500 over a period of three years to study the anti-MuSK myasthenia (AMM) form of myasthenia gravis (MG).
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MG — Muthusamy Thiruppathi, Ph.D.
Muthusamy Thiruppathi, a postdoctoral research associate in microbiology and immunology in the College of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, was awarded an MDA development grant totaling $180,000 over a period of three years to pursue ways to restore normal immune system function in myasthenia gravis (MG).
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MG — Socrates Tzartos, Ph.D.
Socrates Tzartos, professor of biochemistry at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute in Athens, Greece, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $345,033 over a period of three years to develop diagnostic tools for diagnosis of the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 4 (LRP4) form of myasthenia gravis (MG).
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MMD — Darren Monckton, Ph.D.
Darren Monckton, professor of human genetics at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $273,892 over a period of two years to develop new diagnostic tests for myotonic muscular dystrophy type 1 (MMD1, also known as DM1)
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Mitochondrial Myopathies — Eric Schon, Ph.D.
Eric Schon, professor of neurology at the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Columbia University in New York, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $405,000 over a period of three years to develop strategies for treatment of mitochondrial myopathies.
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Muscle Physiology — Masahiro Iwamoto, Ph.D., D.D.S.
Masahiro Iwamoto, research scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and associate professor of pediatric orthopedics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $405,000 over a period of three years to study new ways to reduce muscle degeneration.
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OPMD — Ayan Banerjee, Ph.D.
Ayan Banerjee, a postdoctoral researcher in biochemistry at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., was awarded an MDA development grant totaling $180,000 over a period of three years to study the protein defects that cause oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD).
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OPMD — Sarah Youssof, M.D.
Sarah Youssof, at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque, was awarded an MDA clinical research training grant totaling $180,000 over a period of two years to study outcome measures in oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy (OPMD).
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SMA — Christine DiDonato, Ph.D.
Christine DiDonato, assistant professor of pediatrics at Northwestern University in Chicago, Ill., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $405,000 over a period of three years to test treatment strategies for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
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SMA — Gary Bassell, Ph.D.
Gary Bassell, professor of cell biology and neurology at the Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Ga., was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $405,000 over a period of three years to discover new functions of the SMN protein in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
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SMA — John Manfredi, Ph.D.
John Manfredi, chief scientific officer at Sfida BioLogic in Salt Lake City, Utah, was awarded an MDA research grant totaling $161,995 over a period of two years to study the potential of new compounds for treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). The new grant complements previous MDA-funded research by Manfredi into potential therapeutics for SMA.
On Feb. 1, 2013, funding began for 44 MDA grants targeting 16 specific neuromuscular diseases, as well as research with implications for many of the diseases in MDA's program. The newly funded grants are part of the more than 250 research projects currently supported by MDA.
For an overview of grants awarded by MDA in February 2013, see:
Grants at a Glance
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