|
$25,000
Grant to be Funded
February 2004:
New
Kennedy's Disease
Knock-In Mouse Model
$25,000 Goal Reached!
The KDA
was presented with three
very promising grant
proposals in May,
2003. We would
have liked to fund
all three if we could,
but unfortunately,
simply did not have the
funds to do so.
The first KDA grant that
was awarded to J. Paul
Taylor was very closely
scored with another
grant proposal from Andy
Lieberman (University of
Michigan). Dr.
Lieberman's grant
request proposes to
develop a new knock-in
mouse model which would
actually alter the mouse
gene rather than implant
a human gene for
Kennedy's Disease (which
is the kind of mice now
being used for Kennedy's
Disease research called
"transgenetic mice".)
This is an entirely new
type of mouse model that
did not exist at the
time we began our
fundraising efforts in
July 2003 for this
specific purpose.
This mouse model would
be genetically identical
to a human with
Kennedy's Disease, but
in a mouse model. This
would help researchers
to a greater extent than
the current transgenetic
mice (with Kennedy's
Disease) that are
available. It could
dramatically propel
Kennedy's Disease
research forward.
We are
pleased to have reached
our $25,000 goal
February 2004!
We are also pleased to
announce, that during
these past few months,
Dr. Andrew Lieberman
and his lab have been
having successes in
their
initial steps to
"create" the first
Kennedy's Disease
knock-in mice. Mice
have been born that
inherited the
mutation -- but they
are less than 6 months
old and it will take
time and funds to
continue to study
these mice and
determine if they will
prove to be a "true"
knock-in mouse model
that will be useful
for KD research use.
As KD is an
adult-onset disease,
it can take a year or
longer before the mice
may start to show
symptoms and a goal of
this is to verify
these symptoms will
be the same as seen in
humans. In other
words, they will be
seeking to verify that
the knock-in mouse
model will be the same
as the "human" version
of the disease in the
mice...
The $25,000 raised by
the KDA is only seed
money to help Dr.
Lieberman and his lab
get this project off
the ground. Per Dr.
Lieberman, "the pilot
support provided by
the KDA will provide
us with important
financial help so that
we can cover some of
our expenses incurred
in generating
preliminary data. Our
hope is to leverage
the KDA's pilot
investment in our
knock-in project, and
use it to get some
sound preliminary
data. We'll then use
this data to apply for
support from other
funding agencies (ie.,
NIH, MDA) that can
cover a greater
percentage of our
costs for the several
years it will take to
complete this work."
We'd
like to thank all those
who donated to this
effort and those who
have supported the KDA
along the way in all its
endeavors.
|
French
German
Italian
Spanish
Portugiese
Japanese
Chinese
Knock-In
Mouse Model 
