Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

I chose this genetic disorder to study because when I read that Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is diagnosed in young children, my heart went out to those affected by it. This sounded like an interesting subject and this project gave me chance to learn more about the genetic disorder. The scientific name of this genetic disease is Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, otherwise referred to as Duchenne MD or DMD. DMD is caused by a recessive allele on …

…therapy, researchers reported recently that gene therapy restored muscle mass in aging mice. Researchers supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) are using gene therapy to help repair the muscle damages from DMD. The NIAMS supports a program of research on DMD. Its goals for the future are to understand DMD and its cause better, to develop better therapies, and to find ways to prevent and cure the disorder.