Martin Childers, a professor at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C., has been awarded an MDA grant totaling $480,000 over three years. The Institute is part of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

The new funds will help support Childers' research on heart disease associated with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). DMD results from a complete lack of dystrophin protein in skeletal and cardiac muscles, and BMD results from the presence of partially functional dystrophin protein. Both diseases are caused by mutations in the dystrophin gene.

"Many patients with DMD die as young adults from heart failure," Childers said. "The reason for this is that the heart muscle carries a genetic mutation that damages the normal operation of this all-important muscle. Our project will allow for the discovery of new drugs that might reverse or prevent the effects of the disease on the heart muscle."

Childers and colleagues will use two types of new technology to find potential new drugs for heart disease related to dystrophin deficiency. First, they'll use a method called cellular "reprogramming" to create heart cells from the skin cells of DMD patients. "This remarkable new technology will allow us to study how a genetic mutation affects the heart cells of a specific patient," Childers said.

The second method the investigators will employ is a drug-discovery "platform" that can screen thousands of compounds in individual cells.

"By marrying these two incredible technologies, this project will allow, for the first time, the testing of new drugs directly on the heart cells of an individual patient without any risk to the patient," Childers noted.

Funding for this MDA grant began August 1, 2011.