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The American Neuromuscular Foundation's efforts are funded by various donations. Donations are tax-deductible and help further our mission of improving patient care, promoting research, and advancing public understanding of neuromuscular and musculoskeletal disease. 100% of your donation goes directly to fund research or researcher's education. Read about some of the current research being funded by the American Neuromuscular Foundation.

Colin Franz, MD, PhD
Shirley Ryan AbilityLab/Northwestern University, Chicago, IL

Project Title
Activity-Based Treatments to Accelerate Peripheral Axon Regeneration

Project Summary
Conservative estimates suggest 200,000 or more peripheral nerve injuries occur every year in the United States. Outcomes are highly variable, but the vast majority are left with permanent neurological impairments including limb paralysis or severe chronic pain. Franz’ research will address this problem by combining two promising treatments involving therapeutic electrical stimulation as well as a repurposed drug. Prior work indicates they will have an additive benefit since these treatments appear to target distinct events that occur either earlier or later in the nerve regeneration process. To further enrich this proposal we will use advance materials to enable wireless, and biodegradable implants to deliver therapy directly to regenerating nerves.

Elie Naddaf, MD
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Project Title
The Role of Mitochondria in Inclusion Body Myositis

Project Summary
Dr. Naddaf’s research objective is to describe the precise nature of mitochondrial dysfunction in IBM. His long-term goal is to identify better diagnostic biomarkers for IBM and novel evidence-based, targetable pathways for clinical trials.

Yohei Harada, MD
Duke University, Durham, NC

Project Title
Neuromuscular Ultrasound and Electric Impedance Myography in CMT type 1A: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

Project Summary
Dr. Harada wants to see if neuromuscular (NM) ultrasound (US) and electric impedance myography can serve as alternative assessment tools to accelerate future trials by lowering the number of patients needed to detect improvement and detecting change more quickly. Dr. Harada is using the development grant to evaluate the utility of NM US and electric impedance myography in detecting changes in nerves and muscles over 2 years.