Dr
Mary Reilly (MRC Centre for Neuromuscular
Diseases, Department of
Molecular Neurosciences,UCL Institute of Neurology) and Professor Michael
Shy, (Wayne State University, USA) together with four other US collaborators
have just been awarded a $6.25 million grant from the NIH Rare Diseases
Clinical Research Network to fund research into Charcot-Marie Tooth
disease.
Charcot-Marie Tooth disease is an inherited peripheral neuropathy which causes slowly progressive wasting, weakness and numbness in the legs and arms often starting in childhood and progressing into adulthood. It is the commonest inherited neuromuscular disease affecting approximately 1 in 2,500 people.
The aim of the Inherited Neuropathy Consortium that this grant will be used to fund is to focus on translational research to try to develop therapies for patients with Charcot-Marie Tooth disease.
This funding from the NIH is a very exciting development for inherited neuropathy research.