MDA Funds More CMT Research

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 10/29/2001 9:40:11 PM Pacific Standard Time,

rick@... writes:

> So here's our challenge. Can the help find a researcher who

> wants to snag some Muscular Dystrophy Association funds to develop a

> therapy for CMT? From the current issue of QUEST, the monthly

> magazine of the MDA:

Umm What about Doctor Shy in Michigan????

jenny

[Guest guest]

So here's our challenge. Can the help find a researcher who

wants to snag some Muscular Dystrophy Association funds to develop a

therapy for CMT? From the current issue of QUEST, the monthly

magazine of the MDA:

As knowledge about the genetic causes of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

(CMT) grows, MDA is encouraging researchers to translate that

knowledge into treatment strategies.

MDA-funded researchers have been sorting through a maze of CMT types,

each one cause by a distinct genetic defect. To date, they've

uncovered clues to nearly 20 CMT-linked genes, and identified nine of

them.

All types of CMT cause breakdown of the peripheral nerves, leading to

weakness and sensory loss in the extremities. The nine discovered

genes - essential to the axons (the " wires " inside the nerves), or

myelin (the insulation around the wires) - have helped unravel steps

in that disease process.

" MDA funds are availalbe for projects that have the clear goal of

developing a therapy for any form of CMT, " MDA Director of Research

Development Sharon Hesterlee announced in a recent briefing to past

and present MDA grantees. " Such projects may involve gene transfer,

stem cells or drug interventions, and will be given high-priority

status during the evaluation process. "