MDA has awarded a research grant to Des Richardson, professor and senior principal research fellow at the University of Sydney (Australia) to continued research into iron metabolism in Friedreich's ataxia (FA).

The aim of Richardson's studies is to examine the role of altered iron metabolism in the cellular energy factories called mitochondria.

Dual role of the mitochondrial protein frataxin in astrocytic tumors

Laboratory Investigation , (22 August 2011) | doi:10.1038/labinvest.2011.130

Elmar Kirches, Nadine Andrae, Aline Hoefer, Barbara Kehler, Kim Zarse, Martin Leverkus, Gerburg Keilhoff, Peter Schonfeld, Thomas Schneider, Annette Wilisch-Neumann and Christian Mawrin

Keywords: frataxin (FXN), mitochondrial iron homeostasis, iron–sulfur cluster biogenesis, electron transport chain, reactive oxygen species (ROS), Friedreich's ataxia, suggest a dual, pro-proliferative but chemosensitizing role in astrocytic tumors.

MDA FUNDS UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA NEUROLOGIST EXPLORING LINK BETWEEN DIABETES AND FRIEDREICH’S ATAXIA

TUCSON, Ariz., Aug. 23, 2011–The Muscular Dystrophy Association has awarded neurology professor David Lynch, M.D., Ph.D., at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, a $202,222 grant to study the connection between diabetes and Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA). Lynch has been an MDA-funded investigator for many years.