DMRF Update

Pictured above are Jan Teller (standing) and Mahlon DeLong.

The DMRF has been working to prepare for the annual meeting of our Medical and Scientific Advisory Council (MSAC) and Board of Directors meetings scheduled for February 25 to 27th. This is a busy but exciting time for the Foundation. Our wonderful MSAC members will review the grant and fellowship applications – discussing the scientific merit and the applications relevancy.

I wish everyone could witness this process as these reviews are thorough and thoughtful. Our MSAC members work with an understanding of the urgency in the community and the need for us to invest in those projects and investigators that are most likely to produce another piece of this dystonia puzzle – leading us to have a fuller scientific picture. Leading this effort is Mahlon DeLong, the Foundation’s Scientific Director and Jan Teller, the Foundation’s Science Officer – we are fortunate to have the benefit of these two dedicated individuals and are grateful to them for all they do for the DMRF and the dystonia community.

Joining us this year for this meeting will be the President and Executive Director of the European Dystonia Federation (EDF). We know that solving the dystonia mystery is going to take a global effort and we are so pleased that they are joining us for this meeting and discussions on how we can continue our collaboration going into 2010 and beyond.

The DMRF Board will also be discussing a number of new and exciting program initiatives. We look forward to sharing those with all of you following the meeting. Stay tuned for research and program announcements in March.

The DMRF: A Critical Piece of the Dystonia Puzzle

Starting a scientific career is a daunting proposition, especially for a physician-scientist that has clinical as well as lab responsibilities. Yet, it is physicians who witness first hand the struggles of patients, and this knowledge can be a powerful motivator for scientific discovery -- even when the underlying science is unknown and therefore “off the radar” of basic investigators.

The DMRF has provided essential support to my scientific career, both at the critical early stage, as well as at later stages. Shortly after the gene encoding torsinA was discovered, I received a grant from the DMRF to generate torsinA mutant animals. This grant - to a young and untested physician-scientist – was helpful in supporting the work but, perhaps as importantly, gave me an early track record of securing funding and was therefore helpful in me getting other grants, both from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as the NIH. The ongoing support of the DMRF also enabled me to hire and support Rose Goodchild, an outstanding young scientist who now has an independent lab of her own (studying torsinA). Moreover, the DMRF has consistently organized and supported basic science and clinical workshops that have been invaluable in helping to integrate and focus the dystonia research community. I have found these meetings invaluable, both scientifically and as a place where trainees in my laboratory (and others) can begin to present their work and develop confidence as scientists. The DMRF has consistently focused on identifying and supporting the best science, and I’m convinced that we’d be far, far further from our goal of improving the treatment and hopefully cure of dystonia without the many valuable DMRF-supported activities.

Guest Blogger:

William Dauer M.D.
Elinor Levine Associate Professor
Neurology & Cell and Developmental Biology University of Michigan Medical School

Would you like to know more about DMRF grant funding opportunities?
http://www.dystonia-foundation.org/pages/funding_opportunities/142.php

The deadline for all applications is December 15, 2009. Visit http://www.dystoniagrants.org to view the application form.

Science

As pleased as we are about the accomplishments of last year, we recognize that we have a great deal of work ahead of us yet to do and we are doing it during a very challenging time. The economy, the financial situation facing many Americans is sobering. We move forward into 2009 knowing that this may be a difficult year – but we do so with absolute resolve that the science we are funding is stellar and must be done if we are to get to our goals.

The grants we are funding this year will be announced shortly. We are pleased with the high quality of proposals we continue to receive. We are grateful to the many talented and experienced advisors who, under the leadership of DMRF’s Medical & Scientific Director, Dr. Mahlon DeLong, reviewed these applications and provided important comments on each. The DMRF and indeed the dystonia community are fortunate to have such dedicated and smart scientists and clinicians working to help us get to our goal of wiping out dystonia in our life time. They are amazingly gifted and generous individuals and with their continued guidance, we will get there.