Dr. Bedlack and Duke Clinics to Receive Additional Funding for HSP/SPF Research

Dr. Bedlack and Duke Clinics to receive additional funding for HSP/SPF research

Duke to receive a new grant for SPF

In 2006 the Spastic Paraplegia Foundation announced funding for a grant at Duke Clinics. Duke published the grant's receipt in the beginning of 2007. This grant is for a two year study by Dr. Nina Tang Sherwood. She will be studying a fruit fly model that offers promise in understanding the function of the Spastin gene. Dr. Sherwood has published a number of related papers in recent years in the medical journals.

In the original article in this space, I confused the information and credited the grant as going to Dr. Richard Bedlack. Dr. Bedlack's grants are all associated with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and PLS, a variant of ALS. He has gotten grants for the 2007 year from the ALS association, MDA and others interested in solving the issues related to ALS and PLS.

Just as ALS was a mystery disease when it first became public for taking down one of America's favorite athletes, Lou Gehrig, Spastic Paraplegia is one of today's mystery diseases. The researcher's at Duke and across the country would like to remove the mystery from the disease. The genes that cause Spastic Paraplegia and Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia have been discovered, the researchers are now using fruit flies to remove the remaining mystery of the mechanisms that turn these "bad" genes on and more importantly how to turn these "bad" genes off.

Dr. Bedlack is well thought of in the HSP world as a sensitive advisor and an excellent speaker at conferences. His work at Duke is focused on ALS and PLS related projects.

A year ago Dr. Bedlack showed his interest by aiding the all volunteer Spastic Paraplegia Foundation with a fund raiser known as a Magnificent Mile Race. This fund raiser was a new one for the Research Triangle area where Duke Hospital and Clinics are located.