Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center

The Senator Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Centers (MDCRCs) were established to increase basic and clinical research on all forms of muscular dystrophy. MDCRCs promote concurrent research in three areas:

• Basic research, that is, research which adds new information to the body of knowledge in a particular field,
• Translational research, the application scientific/medical findings (discovered in the lab) to the bedside, and
• Clinical research, the study of drugs, devices or treatments in human subjects to discover potential beneficial effects and/or determine its safety and efficacy.

As nationally recognized centers of excellence in muscular dystrophy, MDCRCs were charged with the task of establishing research programs focused on major questions about muscular dystrophy. MDCRCs are designed to centralize the expertise, infrastructure and resources needed to conduct innovative, cross-disciplinary and multi-intuitional research programs with state-of-the-art technologies. They serve to expand the resources available to investigators and to physicians diagnosing and treating people with muscle diseases, and contribute to the training of new researchers for the muscular dystrophy field.

A major strength of the University of Rochester MDCRC is having a large group of highly motivated, well-characterized patients with myotonic dystrophy (DM1) and patients with facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) who are eager to support basic research and to participate in clinical studies, and a group of enthusiastic investigators with longstanding expertise who want to study these diseases. These strengths have led us to focus our 3 scientific projects and 2 scientific cores on the pathophysiology and treatment of dominantly inherited muscular dystrophies. Our primary emphasis is on DM1 and FSHD.

Contact information:
Tracy Forrester
(585) 275-7434
tracy_forrester@urmc.rochester.edu